‘The best team won on the day’ – No complaints from Rassie Erasmus after Ireland stun his Springboks

The double-World Cup winning coach conceded that the tourists had been worth their win, even though it appeared his side had wrested the result away from them through Handré Pollard’s penalties, until the Skerries native delivered a moment of magic to win it with a drop-goal.

It meant the series ends with a 1-1 tie, meaning Erasmus’ record against Ireland is played four, won one and the coach acknowledged that there is little to separate these rivals.

South Africa Tour Daily – Ireland win in Durban

“We can sit here with a sad face and think of excuses, but the best team won on the day,” Erasmus said.

“We’re really disappointed and the fans will be disappointed.

“But this was like the past four games we have played against them – all the margins have been less than one score – but the main concern was that first half.

“We fought back from a long way at halftime and converted when we had to but in that last minute, they were better than us.”

Captain Siya Kolisi was disappointed with the way the world champions started the game and felt their wounds were self-inflicted.

“The way we started wasn’t good, and we’ve only got ourselves to blame” he said.

“We weren’t all on the same page or firing at the same time, but you must also give credit to the guys who came on to fight our way back into the game.

“We would have loved to have won the series – the people who were here today were amazing in the way they supported us.

“It would have been great to win the series and we’re definitely hurting, but we’re not dead and we will come back again.

“We allowed them to set the tone for the game in the first half. There’s so much we can improve as a group. Each of us as an individual is going to look at ourselves. Hopefully we can rectify this next time out.”