 Scotland winger Chris Paterson suffered in Durban |
Scotland winger Chris Paterson admitted his team were left "physically and emotionally" exhausted after the 36-16 defeat by South Africa in Durban. "It was massively physical," he told BBC Sport. "It was so difficult for us to compete in the first half because we defended for 40 minutes.
"We defended reasonably well, but they just wore us down.
"Everyone is lying flat out on the dressing-room floor and we need to regroup for next week's game."
Paterson scored three penalties and a conversion, but Simon Webster was the only Scot able to breach the South African try-line - and that came three minutes from time.
The Edinburgh Gunners winger conceded that the Scots have much to think about ahead of next weekend's second Test in Port Elizabeth.
"Once we got ball in the second half, we looked a bit sharper," added Paterson.
"But you cannot underestimate the amount of effort which goes into taking on a team like the Springboks."
Scotland coach Frank Hadden was not too downhearted by his side's performance.
"Let's be clear, South Africa are an outstanding side, but they know they have been in a tough match," he said.
"Anybody, even the All Blacks, find it difficult to win here. It's a very, very hard place to win.
"They are the second ranked side in the world and we're a young side that's getting better all the time and it's another fantastic learning opportunity for us.
"The physical side of it is a completely different league, there's no question of that.
"Obviously, when you're more than a stone a man lighter than the opposition, it's a lot easier at home than away from home.
"But, once we came to terms with that, I thought we acquitted ourselves very well.
"It was another brave defensive effort, but we were just not close enough on the scoreboard.
"Hopefully, next week we will not be the rabbits in the headlights in the first 20 minutes.
"I thought we came back strongly in the second half and the guys who came off the bench did their chances of starting no harm."
Springboks coach Jake White said his team had not performed at their best.
"The guys weren't that happy in the change-room, we know we can play a lot better than that," he said.
"Our finishing wasn't as good as it could have been, but I think our preparation, planning and our gameplan was what we were looking for."
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Hopefully, next week we will not be the rabbits in the headlights