For several of this Irish team, Saturday’s second Test was arguably the biggest game of their careers to date, a first taste of playing rugby at such a rarefied air. But it proved decidedly bittersweet.

It certainly isn’t a day Quinn Roux will ever forget, making his Test debut against his boyhood idols and several opponents he knew well, and on a ground where he had occasionally played with the Stormers.

“There was a lot of external things personally for me today; family, playing against old team-mates and stuff like that, so I just tried to shut that off and focus on my job. Hopefully, I did that but there’s always room for improvement.”

It had been “very emotional” he admitted, “especially having my close friends and family here. It was an emotional start but as soon as the whistle went for kick-off I just tried to set that aside and focus on doing my job.

“Getting off the line, putting them back behind the advantage line and especially dominating that set-piece in that first 20 minutes was massive for us. You could see when we didn’t get off the line as much as we did in the first half, and when we didn’t make those dominant tackles, that’s when they started getting over the advantage line and started getting into the game.”

Dismissive

Roux did not think fatigue was a factor. “It might have had a small effect but I think it’s just guys need to do their first jobs, get off the line like we did in the first 20 minutes.”

He was similarly dismissive of the altitude factor. “It might make a small difference but that’s outside stuff.”

Admittedly, Roux did not play the full 80 and Tadhg Furlong, in his first start, also watched the last 20 minutes from the bench. But for him, starting his first game in seven weeks was a bigger factor.

“I was blowing. I don’t know if that’s altitude or that’s because I haven’t played in a while and there were a good few scrums and that always seems to knock it out of you.”

Recovering from the penalty at the first scrum, he contributed to a strong scrummaging effort, and cited the “confidence” given to him by Roux pushing through him. So he tamed The Beast.

“He’s a strong operator,” Furlong said of Tendai Mtawarira.

“He’s been around a hell of a lot of time and he’s got a lot of experience. He’s a world-class loosehead, so for me it was a great experience. You always like to test yourself against a player like that. It does give you a taste for it, and that’s the way Test rugby is. I’m finding my feet little by little.”

He also exchanged jerseys with Mtawarira. “In my first Test start it’s nice to get the jersey of your opposite number, and when that happens to be someone so experienced as him – he’s a very iconic prop – I jumped at the opportunity to get it and graciously he accepted.”

Exposed

Stuart Olding, making only his second Test start three years after his first, ventured that “for young guys to get exposed to that experience is brilliant.

“We just have to learn from these things, whenever you’re playing against the best teams in the world you’ve got to take it in. You can’t let it pass you by.”

Hence, while “hugely disappointed with how we played in the last 20”, Olding was also thrilled to have played.

“It was great to be involved in that game and coming off the back of that win last week I just wanted to get involved as much as I possibly could.

“I thought I went alright, I slipped off a few tackles which I’m pretty disappointed in. But it certainly was the toughest game I’ve played in.”

Nor did he find the conditions a factor over his 80 minutes. “I didn’t notice the altitude, it just felt like any other game of rugby. We knew it was going to be difficult at that level and everybody was blowing at some point; if you’re not blowing then there’s something wrong.

“Going down to sea level, I don’t really care where we play them and I don’t think anybody does. It’s just two teams going out on to the pitch in the same conditions.”

The Springboks lock Pieter-Steph du Toit admitted: “At half-time we were booed off the stadium and I think we deserved it. It’s difficult to describe the feeling.

“There was anger to come out and start again and, you know, ‘we’re not that bad’. I think we tried to show that in the second half.”