Still all to fight for says BOD

The HSBC Ambassador says in his column in The Guardian newspaper that the British & Irish Lions are down, but far from out. Next stop is Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria and the Leinster and Ireland centre says the Lions will travel to the high veld with no fears.

"We will go there with our heads up. The character of a side is often determined in the way it bounces back from defeat," he wrote.

"We are bitterly disappointed, but not as much as we would have been had we been outplayed. The fact that we created opportunities throughout will sustain us in the coming days - the Springboks may have won a battle, but the war is another matter."

The Lions enjoyed 60% territory against the world champions and outscored them by three tries to two. But they conceded too many penalties and missed two of their own in a game that was decided by missed opportunities on the Lions side.

"We dominated the game in terms of territory, we took play through far more phases than South Africa and we made a number of line breaks. But we were punished for our mistakes and problems at the scrum in the first half," he added.

"This series is far from over, but we cannot afford to make the same mistakes and we have to be more clinical close to their line, finishing off what we start. It is all there and we have no reason to panic.

"We have to ensure at Loftus Versfeld that we start better. They will be better for having played their first game in seven months but we have to up the intensity and not give them a head start.

"They may have won the opening Test, but they will be only too aware that it came down to a couple of video-referee decisions and a ball dropped on the line.

An international match invariably comes down to small margins and we had the chances to win. It is no use asking whether the referee was right or wrong in the key decisions he made, because the game has gone.

"It is now all about Pretoria, moving on and absorbing the lessons from Durban."