It was once said that a Lansdowne Road crowd was satisfied if they saw an Irish team play with heart and style and gave it a good go. In which case, yesterday's colourful melange of greens ought to have enjoyed South Africa's 28-18 win handsomely. The Irish squad and management might not be so sanguine, though.

A good performance, punctuated by a couple of superb tries, leaving Ireland entering the last 10 minutes on level pegging, was a basic target handsomely achieved. Yet, having got that far, Ireland will rue not being able to go one step more.

That's the next step then, acquiring that killer instinct. For at 18-18 the game was very much in the balance, but possibly the resilient and resourceful effort in getting there had been too debilitating. And, perhaps, the real inner belief is still in question. Galling, was how Keith Wood described it. "We wanted to win. That was our stated objective, and we have failed in that one and for that we are very disappointed," he said, sounding almost like a penitent churchgoer before his clergy.

"Maybe that's the gauge," Wood added, searching for consolation, "so how far away are we from where we want to be? Not very far."

Recognition of as much came from Harry Viljoen, even if it's easier when you've won. The Springbok coach had been impressed and surprised by "the quality of Ireland's three-quarter play, and their depth of running, which was superior to ours. Ours was too flat."

Further proof then that the graph keeps rising. Ireland have come a long way in the last year, though not quite enough to claim a first Southern Hemisphere scalp in 21 years. The Springboks won because they were that bit more composed and because their ball retention in contact and through endless passages of rucks was far superior. Though both sides stayed true to their guns in keeping the ball in hand, South Africa's running game was more trench warfare, Ireland's more of a skirmishing game, striking occasionally out wide but unable physically to meet them head on.

The official match stats showed that Ireland had marginally more set-piece ball, but the Boks had over twice as much loose ball. Indeed, they had their mitts on the leather for almost nine minutes longer over the course of the afternoon. Might not sound much, but viewed within the parameters of the near 58 minutes the ball was in play, that amounts to a hell of a lot of tackling.

The number of times Andre Venter, particularly, Corne Krige and the other close-in target runners carried the ball and made sizeable indentations in a well-organised and committed Irish defence was awesome, and probably made Venter the true MVP. Considering that, and that they never had the mental fillip of ever being in front, to be very much alive and in the game with a couple of minutes of normal time remaining said much about Ireland's resilience and their willingness to attack out wide.

Indeed, ultimately Ireland lost in a highly competitive, entertaining encounter to a proficient team playing a modern

game. And this despite a nervous opening quarter which left the home side trailing 13-0.

With Brian O'Driscoll the usual fulcrum, and given licence to display his full box of tricks, there were a couple of superb, long-range tries. O'Driscoll and Henderson were the primary creators for one, finished off by Hickie, with O'Driscoll and Hickie the creative forces for the other, finished off by Howe. On a personal level, Hickie should feel well pleased with a redemptive display which underlined his Lions' candidature.

Modesty forbade him from any self-congratulations. Instead, Hickie ruefully reflected: "Maybe they were a bit better in open play in terms of getting behind us once or twice, but we worked so hard and tackled so hard that maybe we ran out of gas in the last 20 minutes." The "pummelling" which Ireland took, according to Brian O'Brien, left the Irish dressing-room looking like a "battleground". Once again, the cruelly unfortunate Girvan Dempsey was the main casualty, after leading a counter-attack which threatened to conjure a remarkable piece of escapology at 18-21 but instead resulted in the Springboks' insurance try.

An incident-packed encounter also included several controversial moments which left the officials with eggs on their chin, if not quite omelettes on their jerseys. There was Ronan O'Gara's opening penalty that looked wide, but was adjudged over, to the incredulity of the Springboks and the hilarity of most of the crowd. There was Percy Montgomery's penalty against the outside of the upright which rebounded off Ed Morrison for Pieter Rossouw to claim what would have been a bizarre try. After a confused on-field debate between an embarrassed Morrison and referee Steve Lander, the latter opted for a South African five-metre scrum, when it should have been either a South African try or an Irish 22 metre drop out.

That wasn't the only source of amusement, for there was the risible claim that Robbie Fleck, having been replaced at the interval by Braam van Straaten, then reappeared after 64 minutes as a replacement for Grant Esterhuizen. Apparently he had been a blood injury. "He has a very big nose," explained Viljoen.

The Irish management were less amused after Fleck had been penalised for holding Rob Henderson back after his chip, from which Hickie scored Ireland's opening try. Given that Fleck was nonetheless spoken to for the penalty infringement, shouldn't Ireland have been awarded a penalty on the half-way line when the game resumed?

Not one of the officials' best days then. As the fella put it, they missed a great game.