Captain Paul O'Connell has spoken of his frustration at the Lions' failure to see off South Africa on Saturday.
Lions captain saddened to see his side lose their lead and the series
Captain Paul O'Connell has spoken of his frustration at the British and Irish Lions' failure to see off South Africa in the second Test on Saturday.
Rob Kearney's try took the tourists into the break leading 16-8, but injuries and mistakes took their toll in the second half as Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie tries made it level heading into the final moments.
Ronan O'Gara was then punished for tackling Fourie du Preez in the air and with the final kick of the game replacement fly-half Morne Steyne held his nerve to land the resulting penalty from 55 metres.
The 28-25 triumph gives the world champions an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and Lions skipper O'Connell found the defeat hard to take after the final whistle.
Agony
"It's very disappointing," O'Connell told
Sky Sports 1. "We conceded a try we should never have conceded really and then to concede the penalty at the end it's just very disappointing.
"We had a lot of injuries and that definitely told. When Brian O'Driscoll went off, he's a lynchpin of the team, and it was tough but we just didn't play enough in the second half.
"When we played in the first half we were all over them and we just didn't play in the second half. I thought we'd done enough to get the draw and keep the series alive.
"The way we played in the first half. Before we came on tour I knew we could do that, when you put everyone together I knew we could do that. We needed to do it for 80 minutes though. We did it for the second 40 last week and we did it for the first 40 this week.
"Guys are so proud to play for the Lions and they want to win for the Lions, it's just very disappointing the way it panned out."
Ecstasy
O'Connell and his troops now have just seven days to lift themselves for the third and final Test in Johannesburg, while it seems Springboks captain John Smit will have a job bringing his players back down to ground.
"It was a game of two halves - but we're quite happy to take the win any way we can," Smit said.
"We were quite sloppy, so to fight back like this...I'm proud of the boys. I knew the intensity and physicality was going to be far more than last week but it was a tough one to fight back from.
"There were some harsh words at half-time, we hadn't brought much to the party for the first 40.
"But this team keeps amazing me and finding victories in a corner - they're good players.
"The Lions will feel unlucky but we're delighted with a 2-0 lead. We've got one more game to go but the job is done and the time is right to enjoy this win."
