This was the seventh time in their past eight meetings that a Test between Ireland and South Africa had been decided by a single score. It is clear there is now a real rivalry between the sides ranked one and two in the world.
After the loss, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was already thinking about when his side will see Ireland again after admitting their opponents had been “dominating physically” in the first half.
“It was tight last week, it was tight this week, and at the World Cup too,” Kolisi told Sky Sports.
“Obviously at the moment, they have the upper hand but we’ll work hard, learn from this, and I’m sure we’ll see them again.”
The Racing 92 flanker did not feel his side were as “intense” as they had been in the first Test seven days prior.
“In that first half, the intensity and the physicality, they were in charge of that,” Kolisi said. “We were just playing catch-up. We weren’t as intense as we were last week.
“They were dominating us physically. That was the big change compared to last week.
“We did well to fight back. I thought the guys that came on, came on and fought and the momentum swung in the second half.”