Wayne Pivac was left frustrated by Wales' discipline after a last-gasp Damian Willemse penalty broke Welsh hearts and denied them an historic victory in South Africa.
This was a totemic effort by Wales who pushed the world champions to the limit, but the power of the Springbok pack proved decisive as Pivac's men slipped to a cruel 32-29 defeat in Pretoria.
At one stage, Wales were down to 12 men after Alun Wyn Jones, Louis Rees-Zammit, and Rhys Carre had been sent to the sin bin, and Pivac was left dismayed by his side's lack of discipline.
“It was a big step up from our last performance, but I am really frustrated with the discipline,” said Pivac. “When you go down to 12 men against the world champions, it is very difficult. The effort was huge.
We were on the wrong side of the referee today, and we need to go away and look at the penalties we conceded and the yellow cards.”
Wales raced into an 18-3 lead after a brace of tries from Rees-Zammit. But South Africa hit back after the break with four tries.
Wales captain Biggar thought some of the decisions Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli gave against his side were harsh. “It's difficult to say too much when you're quite emotional,” he said.
“We certainly felt some of them (refereeing decisions) were a little bit harsh. But conversely when you give a team like South Africa a little bit of an in and a bit of momentum, it's very difficult to stop and probably quite easy to referee.
“I don't know what the referee expected us to do – come here and lie down and let South Africa have everything their own way? I don't know what the issue is.
“We wanted to get in amongst it and not take a backward step. That's part of the game at the minute. If you stand off South Africa out here, you are going to get steam rolled pretty quickly.
“You have to show some fight and energy and some aggression and competitiveness. I didn't see any issue.
They were as niggly and competitive as we were, but that was perfect for us – exactly what we wanted.”
Wales were dealt a severe blow when experienced tighthead Tomas Francis left the field with what looked like a serious injury, and Pivac ruled him out of next Saturday's second Test in Bloemfontein.
“He's okay in the changing room,” he said. “I would think he will definitely be out of the second Test, and we will have to wait and see whether or not he is available for the third.”
