See below for the thoughts of South African coach Jake White after his side slipped to their second consecutive defeat to Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

JAKE WHITE:

- ON IRELAND'S PERFORMANCE -

"Our backs, especially the outside backs, started very well. What worried me was we were dominated in the tight five. But we should give a lot of credit to this Irish team. They played extremely well and Marcus Horan's try just before half-time put them too far ahead.

"(Peter) Stringer and (Ronan) O'Gara kicked to the right hand corner and it was difficult to get out. We just couldn't get out of the corner in the first half."

- ON THE SPRINGBOKS' DEFENCE -

"We missed some first-up tackles. Pierre Spies made some try-saving tackles and it was a blessing he was there.

"I'm still confident that our defensive system works. I've no doubt it works when it's executed properly. One of my frustrations, as a coach, is that no domestic team in South Africa uses it."

- ON BRYAN HABANA'S PLACING AT CENTRE -

"It was difficult for Bryan (Habana) to come into the squad (replacing Jaque Fourie) at such short notice and adapt in the space of a week. I wanted to play him at outside centre, so I wouldn't disrupt the back-three (of Bevin Fortuin, Francois Steyn and Jaco Pretorius). I know now that the Habana-de Villiers centre combination won't win us big Test matches. As a combination, it is just too frail defensively."

- ON PIERRE SPIES' PERFORMANCE -

"It shows that there is a big difference between playing in the Currie Cup and international rugby here. On softer grounds you have to play a more direct game and knock people over. There are certain parts of Pierre's game that he must improve."