Peter O'Mahony insists Ireland will not allow yesterday's first Test defeat to South Africa dent their confidence, as they look to level the series next Saturday in Durban.
Ireland were beaten 27-20 by the world champions yesterday at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, with head coach Andy Farrell left to rue a defensively sluggish first half, in which the Springboks' attack stretched them from touchline to touchline.
The squad will depart for Durban today, ahead of Saturday's second Test at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on the Eastern Cape, and it's likely they'll be forced into at least two changes.
Scrum-half Craig Casey is almost certain to be ruled out after suffering a concussion, having been one of Ireland's leading performers, while hooker Dan Sheehan is also a major doubt after picking up a knee injury and departing at half time.
Additionally, Robbie Henshaw was also removed at half time having received treatment on a shoulder injury in the opening half. Jamie Osborne, who scored Ireland's opening try on his debut, is being monitored for a groin injury.
With this being just a two-game series, the prospect of a series win is already gone for Ireland, but O'Mahony doesn't believe that will take any edge away from their preparations this week.
"This team has a huge amount of character, don't get me wrong it's a tough place to come and play rugby but we have all the football," he said after yesterday's game in Pretoria.
"Technical and tactical side of it, we just need to deliver it on the pitch."
While 14 of South Africa's 27 points came in the final 15 minute of the game, O'Mahony echoed his head coach's belief that the game was won and lost in the first half.
"It was an intense test match. We were chasing the game in the first half defensively with the way they played, a bit deeper and wider.
"Some of our decision making around our defensive calling wasn't good enough, some of our tackling wasn't good enough either.
"It was a hugely competitive Test match, intense, as you'd expect. But, we were off in a few areas," he added.
Head coach Farrell has come out in support of James Lowe, whose two late mistakes played a part in the late South Africa scores.
First, the wing's attempts to keep a penalty kick to touch backfired when the ball fell kindly for Cheslin Kolbe to score, before he got caught in possession in his own in-goal area late on, with the Boks scoring a penalty try off the resulting scrum.
"It's an error. It's an error. I've no doubt James will put his hand up to that," Farrell said of the second incident.
"It's fool's gold, isn't it? Some of the kick-offs as well, Craig [Casey] caught and we end up 20 metres from our own line. If you've got the courage to let it bounce, it goes dead. At the same time, if it bounces up you look stupid. We don't know either way."
However, when it came to the Kolbe score, Farrell was more critical of Lowe's teammates.
"I was more disappointed - it was a special play by Kolbe, to chase that ball. It's one of the reasons they won the World Cup, with him chasing down the kicker in France, but we were slack in not backing James up.
"You’ll make your own decision on whether he still had the ball in his right hand or whether the ball hit him as he threw the ball back into field and his foot was in touch. That’s for us all to debate," he added.
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