'But when the pressure is on we fought all the way till the end. On changes within the squad after the World Cup: 'I think that on the back of a pretty poor performance in the summer Tests we had a lot of criticism. It is a squad of 33 and it is a 33-man effort, even the lads not in the squad tonight gave everything to help us and it is just unfortunate that it has ended this way.' On returning to the squad: 'I am as pleased as you can be, it is irrelevant and I would rather play a terrible game and us win at the end. The boys gave everything and we just came up short.' On opportunities during the game: 'I think we will look back on that second half, if we had a bit more set-piece dominance and fewer errors but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
'They put the plan together and we were so close, but did not get there unfortunately.' But I am so proud of the effort that the boys gave tonight - the coaching staff, they made us believe. 'You have to credit South Africa, they fought till the end and made us pay for a few mistakes. England full-back Freddie Steward on BBC Radio 5 Live: 'A lot of raw emotions at the minute and to go that close against such a great outfit and to not get there in the end is a tough one to take - sport is cruel sometimes.
