Under intense pressure from the Springboks, who were desperate to shunt their tour back on track, Scotland's basic skills fell apart.

Everything they attempted was undermined by knock-ons or intercepted passes as South Africa ran in five tries to leave Scotland with just two victories - over Samoa and Japan a fortnight ago - from 12 Tests since Matt Williams took charge.

Heading into their RBS 6 Nations campaign, which starts against France in February, Macfadyen is confident Scotland will learn quickly from Saturday's defeat but not dwell on it.

And he believes there are plenty of positives Scotland should draw from the two autumn defeats to Australia plus the comfortable win over Japan.

"The only thing you can do from a game like that is learn from it. Hopefully we can learn from the mistakes and keep becoming a better team, which I think we are," said the Glasgow open-side.

"This result is very disappointing but we have to keep looking to the future. We will look back at the positives from the series. We are getting better as time goes on.

"We have gone into every game believing we could win and with every chance to win. The teams are high quality and if you give them an inch they will take it.

"I was gutted by the final score but I don't think we are far off at all."

Scotland gave South Africa more than an inch.

Bryan Habana ran in two interception tries in the first half and the Springboks even edged it 10-7 when they were down to 13 men with both locks off the field.

Full-back Hugo Southwell, one of those brought into the side by Williams who made such an impact in the first Test against Australia and has a promising future ahead of him, endured a forgettable day.

Winger Chris Paterson's 50th Test appearance was far from his most impressive and the Scotland centres were caught out by Africa's fast-moving juggernaut defence.

"The South Africans put us under a lot of pressure but hopefully we can learn from that and go away and work on our skills under pressure. All credit to them," said Macfadyen.

"I have been involved in the Scottish squad since the Australian tour and we have worked very hard on our skills. It is something that is definitely getting better.

"No-one was intimidated. The way they defend, they fly up, get in your face, they go for the big hits which put you under pressure.

"We were not intimidated but they played their defensive patterns really well which put us under pressure."