Captain Paul O'Connell admitted the penalties they conceded cost the British and Irish Lions dear in their opening Test defeat to South Africa.

O'Connell told Sky Sports 1: "I think we ran out of time. But when the ref gives that many penalties against you, you don't really stand a chance. It was just penalty after penalty after penalty. Undoubtedly some were our fault but it was a killer for us."

The Limerick man felt though the Lions' performance bodes well for the coming Tests. He added: "[I am] very encouraged. We are playing a good brand of rugby."

Head coach Ian McGeechan felt his side would go all the way to victory after such a fine comeback. He said: "With eight minutes to go we were playing well. We had given ourselves a mountain to climb. I thought that in the last eight minutes we would probably have another crack and do it in the end. I thought we would get one more opportunity in that last five minutes and I think they did as well."

McGeechan admitted the Lions, though, gave the Springboks too great a head start. "The penalties killed us in the end. Without playing much rugby South Africa were able to accumulate enough points."

But he backed his side to bounce back in the next two Tests. "[I am] hugely proud of the rugby. That's high quality rugby," he said. "Of Course we can [still do this]. That's why we are here."

Brian O'Driscoll said the team was disappointed their comeback had fallen just short. He said: "With four minutes to go we still had everything to play for. We were in the ascendancy, had ball and they were panicking bit.

"So the overriding feeling is disappointment. We scored three tries against the world champions. That will give us huge heart but essentially it's a loss." The centre believes the Lions can still win the series. "We are going to have to do it the hard way," he said. "Essentially we have got two cup finals, no margin for error. We have to have that second-half performance for 80 minutes next week. We know we've got it in us."