South Africa 28 Lions 25

FIRST, the bad news. Battered, bruised, beaten. Hearts, minds and bodies broken, the Lions were buried on the high fields of South Africa.

Now, the good news. Luke Fitzgerald still has his eyesight. Every cloud, and all that.

But Schalk Burger's criminal fingers will provide just one of the recriminations when Britain and Ireland's walking wounded congregate ahead of next Saturday's dead Test in Johnannesburg.

How was Burger not dismissed for committing the most heinous of crimes?

Fitzgerald said: "I felt a hand going for my eyes. If the referee decided to take action then it probably is a red card."

There will be recriminations from an ultimately fateful tour.

Why did the Lions only arrive at altitude less than 24 hours before this Test kicked off?

Why was their preparation for the series marred by facing a succession of barely half-decent teams in empty, echoey stadiums?

Did their timetable ahead of this match mean the second half collapse and the stream of dazed, dislocated players heading to the sidelines was inevitable?

All will need to be answered when the grim business of the irrelevant third Test is concluded.

As bravely as the Lions have performed, as agonisingly close as they have come in both superb matches, the stark fact is they have lost SEVEN straight Tests.

Despite that depressing statistic, head coach Ian McGeechan insisted he had nothing but pride in his Lions.

He said: "I've just said to the guys that I'm incredibly proud of them and that they did not deserve to be 2-0 down. This was a tremendous performance.

"It was the same as last week - another opportunity lost.

"We played some great rugby, especially in the first half. The injuries disrupted our second half but I'm disappointed we gave South Africa an opportunity."

Right now, as doctors earn their dough tending to a casualty list that stretches almost from here to Johannesburg, it would be an insult to be too damning of the players who emptied their physical and mental reserves on to the Loftus Versfeld grass.

Although they were outscored by three tries to one and faded in the second half, the series would have been level had ref Christophe Berdos had a semblance of bottle.

Burger buried his digits into Fitzgerald's eye-sockets after just 40 seconds.

It is the offence that is considered totally unforgivable in today's rugby.

Burger received only yellow. The only thing yellow was the French official.

The series would surely have been level had Gethin Jenkins not had his face split by Bryan Habana's head, had Adam Jones not fractured his arm, had Brian O'Driscoll not staggered from the field with barely a single sense intact, had Jamie Roberts not departed in agony.

At one point, it looked as though the Lions would simply run out of personnel. It wasn't a bench, it was a casualty ward.

But you cannot get away from the theory that injuries happen through exhausted vulnerability.

The Lions looked exhausted, just as many thought they would do at 5,000 feet of altitude in the later stages of a high-octane Test.

They could have conserved energy had Burger been sent off but the only benefit they received was an expertly-worked try from Rob Kearney.

Within seconds of the eye-gouger's return, South Africa had a foothold in the game when JP Pietersen sliced through.

The boot of Stephen Jones - which contributed 20 points to the cause - ensured that the Lions held a 16-8 advantage going into the second half.

It was a half that disintegrated to the sound of cracking bones and the sight of flowing blood.

Somehow, through no more than sheer survival instinct, through courage, through an insane level of commitment, the Lions clung to their lead as though they were protecting cubs.

Their discipline, their game- plan and their ambitious attacking policies were rapidly disappearing into the thin air of the late Pretorian afternoon.

One by one, key players finally surrendered to their complaining, screaming bodies.

O'Driscoll's state of being summed it up. Three times, he looked concussed. Three times he staggered like a drunk desperate for a wall to halt his stagger.

Even this remarkable player had to be told eventually that it was time to give in.

The Lions and their gallant band of replacements never gave in but there was still an air of crushing inevitability about the two late Springbok tries.

Habana's effort was a beauty, a shaft of speed through a tangle of heavy legs.

Steyn signalled the start of a tragic cameo from Ronan O'Gara by running through him, resisting the attentions of Tommy Bowe and Mike Phillips and letting the man in the stands with the remote control do the rest.

It put the Boks ahead for the first time but another Jones penalty levelled the scoreboard until a rash infringement by O'Gara against Fourie du Preez.

The clock had clocked off. An eerie silence dropped like a blanket. The Lions stood, among them Simon Shaw, the 36-year-old who had been simply colossal in his first Test.

They might as well have been prostrate. Flat out, waiting to see if fate was about to deliver one final crushing blow. The boot of Morne Steyn did just that.

There was not one single Lion who deserved such cruelty.

MATT GITEAU scored all Australia's points as they beat France 22-6 in Sydney. Lionel Beauxis and Dimitri Yachvili kicked penalties for France.

NEW ZEALAND beat Italy 27-6 in Christchurch with Joe Rokocoko, Isaac Ross and George Whitelock grabbing tries. Luke McLean kicked two penalties for the Italians.

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