The mood within the Irish camp was clearly one of relief. At least the bulk of the midweek side had the satisfaction of winning a game, thereby ending their tour and their season on some sort of high. But perhaps it would have done their confidence more good if North West had provided the tour's first midweek opposition.

After four successive defeats since the opening win over Boland, Warren Gatland reflected this feeling with his first utterances at the post-match press conference. "I'm relieved to get the win, but it won't make any difference to the Test selection," said the Irish coach, which is a strong hint the starting line-up for the second Test will be unchanged.

"However, it will be beneficial for the players' self-confidence and it's good to get a win."

Gatland added that Richard Wallace's performance also wouldn't influence his Test selection. "In fact, I was disappointed with both wings actually." Asked why, specifically, Gatland answered: "I'll go through the video with both players. I'd prefer to talk to them first."

Gatland did highlight Ciaran Clarke's display at full back. "I have to say I was delighted with Ciaran Clarke's performance. Anybody who watched him in the training sessions before the tour would have seen how sharp he was.

"He (Clarke) picked up an injury early in the tour and he's been gutsing it out at 70 to 80 per cent. He showed some good pace today and good decision-making."

Irish manager Donal Lenihan was asked to respond to the complaint by the abrasive North West captain and open side flanker, Markus van Greunen, that the Irish had been coming into the sides of rucks over vigorously. Lenihan found this a bit rich. "Coming in on the sides of rucks seems to be the way the game is played over here and we have adapted to that." Asked about the physical nature of the game, Lenihan admitted, "We struggled physically at times. We started well and then lost our way."

Yet he didn't concur with the view that this Irish team were inherently weaker physically. "No, I don't agree with that. It was more a case of mental fatigue, especially coming at this stage of the year after a long, hard season."

Asked once again about the referee's performance, Gatland said: "I thought we were caught offside a bit too often, but I was happy enough with the referee's performance."

Lenihan confirmed that David Corkery had suffered a bang on his knee, while Trevor Brennan had sustained a dead leg.

Meanwhile, the Springboks' fly-half Gaffie du Toit was ruled out of the game with injured ribs. Du Toit had a nasty fall during the first Test and aggravated the injury during a training session.

After seeing the doctor this afternoon he was ruled out for 10 to 14 days. Franco Smith will take his place against Ireland with Henry Honiball moving onto the replacement bench.