It would be a shame if Morné Steyn’s 81st-minute kick was to sound the death knell for the British and Irish Lions as an entity.
They are the only proper touring team left in international rugby and, despite the protests of their coach and manager this week, there must be doubt about how long the Lions can keep losing.
Incredibly, the Lions have won only four series in their history, two in South Africa and one each in New Zealand and Australia.
They have now lost their past nine Test matches and the fact that they lost by only five and three points against the Springboks this time around is largely irrelevant: what they really need is a win in Johannesburg this weekend.
Unfortunately for coach Ian McGeechan, the team that eventually runs out to play the final Test of the dead rubber will be vastly removed from his first choice. That’s because the shock waves are still being felt from the series-clinching result at Loftus.
Both Welsh props had surgery in Pretoria for serious injuries and there are many others ranging from concussion to muscle strains. That the Lions gave it their all is beyond doubt, but their challenge faded with the onset of uncontested scrums on the 50-minute mark.
It would have been at that point that McGeechan realised the severity of his selection errors for the first Test. In Durban the Lions underestimated the strength of the Springbok scrum and went for mobility ahead of power. At Loftus McGeechan reverted to the traditional strength of northern hemisphere rugby and the Bok scrum suffered.
Two things will endure after the details of the thrilling second Test pass into history. The first concerns the yellow carding of Schalk Burger in the first minute of the match. Put simply, the British press wondered why a mandatory red card was not issued and bemoaned the laxity of Burger’s eight-week ban. The Springbok coach and a few other influential people wondered what all the fuss was about.
Ultimately, good will come of Burger’s ban, for it will force the Bok coach to select Heinrich Brüssow in his starting line-up for the coming Tri-Nations. The young Free Stater has had one provincial game and 80 minutes of Test rugby spread over two games against the Lions. He has been the most outstanding player on the field.
Peter de Villiers, like his predecessor Jake White, has denialist views about the need for a fetcher in the modern game. For White the issue was that Burger played like two men, but that time has gone. Burger is short of rugby in 2009 and it shows. It’s not time to drop him, but it is time to reconsider the make-up of the back row.
The second enduring moment of the Test will be the decision by Ronan O’Gara to kick the ball away in the final seconds. He was not alone. In the final passage of play with the scores level the Lions kicked three times and didn’t look for touch once. But O’Gara, who has been a thorn in Bok flesh in the past, made a bad decision at a critical time, leading to Steyn’s winning kick.
The Irishman will now have the rest of his life to regret his decision. A workmanlike career that might have been marked by his key role in Ireland’s second-ever Grand Slam earlier this year will instead be remembered for his folly in Pretoria.
He may care to share condolences with David Campese, the great Wallaby wing who has never been forgiven by some Down Under for gifting a try to Lions wing Ieuan Evans in 1989.
It would be churlish to suggest that the Lions conspired among themselves to lose the series, however. They were in the contest in Durban because the Boks were underdone, having had too much time off since the Super 14. They were given a kick-start in Pretoria with the yellow carding of Burger, but failed to last the pace.
It has become clear that an outstanding South African side is forming despite and not because of the coaching panel’s selection policy.
The time has come for Jacques Fourie to join the starting line-up. He has been waiting patiently in line for Adi Jacobs to lose form and that moment has arrived. Equally, it may be that Steyn’s wonderful form is deserving of a starting place ahead of Ruan Pienaar. The real blessing for De Villiers is that he has so much quality to choose from.
The wheel turns and it is interesting to recall what happened after the Lions won the series here in 1997. Springbok coach Carel du Plessis was sacked at the end of the season and Nick Mallett took the reins.
Having won their final Test under Du Plessis, the Boks then won another 16 in a row to equal the world record. The current Bok team may not beat that run, but they have the ability to be remembered long after the result of this series is forgotten.