Consumed by the collective

The thieving instinct of a magpie and a nose for the correct line, Denis Hickie's finger prints decorated yesterday's swinging contest. Hickie's signature style marked the game like a master's brush stroke on an unsigned canvas.

One try where he typically beat the bunch to the touchdown, another delivery to Tyrone Howe for Ireland's second, a beauty, a string of critical tackles and still he wears the same frown as the rest of the Irish team who file out from under the West Stand. A team still waiting for it to happen against the big boys.

"Firstly we didn't win and that was our real objective - to win," he says. "I suppose you could say we achieved some of our objectives without achieving the ultimate.

"I got the feeling we could have won it. At 18-18 we were just trying to force them down there into their own half and play for penalties. In trying to do that they actually broke out. Our attacking move broke down. That's what turns games. They are a good side and if you give them half a chance they punish you. That's what they did."

Mind you, almost meeting the South African challenge has as much positive resonance as England coach Clive Woodward would have had if Dan Luger's failed to touch down the injury time winning try against Australia. Hickie, despite his own renaissance as a class winger, is consumed by the collective, not man-of-the-match baubles.

"Until we beat them I don't think the gap (between Ireland and the main Southern Hemisphere sides) will be closed. In terms of how we performed against them you could say that it was a far superior effort than in the last three or four years, especially the games I've played in and in that respect we are going somewhere.

"Physically, no, I don't think there was a huge amount of difference between this and the Six Nations matches. Irish players have come on a lot, the rugby's gotten stronger and the guys have gotten stronger. It was a very physical game. They hit hard and they pride themselves in that. But I thought for large parts of the match we were giving as good as we got. In that respect there was no huge gulf.

"But maybe they were better in open play in terms of getting behind us. We were tackling so hard and trying so hard that maybe we ran out of gas in the last 20 minutes in terms of our defence. Then they were able to get in."

The Six Nations Championship is still far on the horizon but the success of Ireland's free-running backline and the fact that the match unravelled only in the dying minutes will provide the players with some shards of light in the days between now and February.

"I think our backs caused them a lot of trouble when they ran at them," he says. "And our forwards and lineout caused trouble for them, stole a lot of their ball. I actually thought that for a lot of the game we were well on top and would have been deserving of a victory. In the end, they scored the try. . . it's all about winning, isn't it.

"Tactically we did have the wind in the second half and we wanted to put them under pressure and see how they dealt with it. Some of it worked well, some of it let them off the hook. We just wanted to play the game in that area."

The tone was one of being disappointed, but not disconsolate, the mood downbeat but not deflated. Possibilities rather than dead ends.

"That's the sort of game we need to be playing," says Hickie. "You know attacking them. That's our game, our strength. If we keep doing it, we will be rewarded."