Flanker Rob Harley believes South Africa were flattered by the 55-6 scoreline in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, insisting Scotland played better than the scoreboard suggests.
Harley, who played in three RBS 6 Nations matches in 2013, spent the full 80 minutes on the pitch as the Springboks ran in eight tries.
The defeat came off the back of three good performances with victories over Canada, USA and Argentina in coach Vern Cotter’s first matches in charge.
And Glasgow back-row Harley says the young side have plenty of lessons to learn from the defeat, but insisted the summer tour was an overall success.
“The Springboks were able to take full advantage when we didn’t do some things to the best of our ability,” he said.
“We performed well in periods of the match, we kept our structure, we came off the line and we hit them.
“They were intense for the whole 80 minutes which is something we aspire to.
“We will learn lessons from this and we can’t lose sight of the bigger picture – three wins out of four on the trip. Overall, we are on an upward trajectory.”
