But the coach was not concerned by the fact his side have now conceded 50 points twice - against Argentina in the first Test and here - on a tour of the southern hemisphere which not only answered lingering questions but created many more.

Wales were outplayed in the set-pieces - a factor which put a lot of pressure on their backline and kept the ball away from them for long periods - but it was not something which disheartened the burly coach.

"We were well beaten," he said afterwards.

"We came here with a plan and it didn't work for us. We had a lot of injuries in the first half and our scrum was weakened in the process.

The Springboks took full advantage of these problems but they also played some very good rugby to beat us in the end.

"We don't want to take anything away from the Boks but we are at the end of a tough trip and we've won two and lost two if you include the Barbarians game.

The side has shown character, and we claimed our first major scalp away from home in Argentina and we have learned a lot.

We will take a lot out of this performance, that's for sure and hopefully we will have the measure of the Boks when we meet again at the Millennium Stadium in November."