Wilco Louw was one of the few Springboks to emerge with credit from the 16-33 loss to New Zealand at Ellis Park, and the tighthead remains confident the series can still be turned around.
Louw, Malcolm Marx and Ox Nche dominated the All Blacks scrum for the opening 55 minutes, repeatedly pushing them backwards and winning penalties, before Gerhard Steenekamp — who had replaced Nche in the second half — conceded an infringement at a critical moment with the Boks in an attacking position.
"Obviously it's very disappointing, but they used their opportunities really well and luckily we've got another chance next week," Louw said. "They were more clinical than us."
He pushed back on suggestions the Boks had deliberately slowed the match down. "I don't think there's any nation in the world that'll go out and say we want to make it slow. I think it was a well-paced game."
With three Tests remaining in the four-match series, Louw insists the belief in the camp is intact. "This was just the first Test. The belief is there that we can be better, grow and use our opportunities."
Jesse Kriel echoed the clinical theme in his own assessment but took a different view from Rassie Erasmus on the effect of Kurt-Lee Arendse's early head injury assessment. Kriel maintained the reshuffle was manageable. "It's all stuff that we planned for and we simulate during training weeks. I don't think it was too much of a disruption."
Erasmus, however, outlined how that single moment unravelled his match-day blueprint. He had intended to deploy Andre Esterhuizen as a flanker from the bench, but with Arendse off, Esterhuizen was forced to centre, Kriel shifted to wing, and the original positional plan collapsed. When Cheslin Kolbe went off later with cramps, Cobus Reinach moved to scrumhalf and Grant Williams — the starting nine — shifted to wing, while Manie Libbok's introduction required Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to move to fullback.
The disruption was further compounded when Marco van Staden and Reinach were both yellow-carded within a minute of each other, leaving the Boks temporarily down to 13 men.
"One or two injuries changed the way we actually planned to play the game," Erasmus said. "And that's nobody's fault."