As his players mulled around the field, shaking the hands of the Lions who had just beaten them 28-9, Peter de Villiers sat alone inside the Springbok coaches' box, his hands clasped in front of his moustache and his mouth, staring blankly ahead.
His second-string Springboks had been outplayed from whistle to whistle, his scrum punished, the pacey back three starved of ball and the chance of a historic 3-0 whitewash had gone - it was all something of an anticlimax, to be frank. It had been a weird week ahead of this match, when it should have been wonderful, a celebration of a series win over the British and Irish Lions, the first Bok team and coach to have done so in 29 years.
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Yet, that had been sadly dissipated in the space of five fractious days, the banning of Schalk Burger and Bakkies Botha, the ill-conceived comments by De Villiers and the retorts from the Lions. A much-changed team did not help, but, then, the Lions had lost a handful of players after last week's physical epic. This was a final match that an epic series, which could have gone either way, did not deserve.
"There are mixed emotions," said John Smit. "You have won the series, but you have lost today, so it's one of the easiest press conferences I have actually been at. They were better than us today, more intensity and rhythm, and an emphatic victory. We appreciate the series more knowing we are playing against a top Lions side. We were poor today. They counter-rucked us, took us off the ball.
| 'There are mixed emotions' |
"It's been a wonderful series and it would have been nice to go 3-0, but we didn't really rock up with the intensity," said Smit, who rated this win as good as the World Cup victory in 2007. There has been doubt over the future of the Lions, but Smit believes rugby would be poorer without them.
"This ranks with the World Cup and I've had two cracks at the World Cup. It's been an amazing experience from start to finish. A Lions tour is one of the most prized spectacles in world rugby. The Lions fans were amazing. There are not a lot of top-notch games out there like these."
The Springboks' heads were elsewhere. White armbands were worn in solidarity with Botha, whom the Boks believe was harshly treated when suspended for two weeks for cleaning out at a ruck. As though to make a point, Victor Matfield smashed into the first ruck with a vengeance, and conceded a penalty inside 20 seconds.
They conceded much, much more after that. The Springbok maul, so potent on the few occasions it was used in the first Test, went backwards three times.
The Lions won the 50-50 balls, and despite the statistics being pretty even afterwards, the Boks were outplayed. Pride was on the line for the Lions, and not just for the 2009 squad, but the 2001 and 2005 teams.
"It was a very important day for us today," said Paul O'Connell, the Lions captain. "The Lions haven't won a Test in a while now, and it would have been hard for me to look old Lion in the eye had I not had a victory in my six Tests as a Lion. It's been a tough week.
"We've been missing Brian O'Driscoll, Jamie Roberts, Adam Jones.
"Full credit to the Springboks for winning the series, but who knows what might have been had it been 1-1 going into today."
Who knows indeed.
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