Scotland reaction (captain Ritchie, head coach Townsend, Cherry, Jones, Darge)

ON-FIELD REACTION 

Jamie Ritchie, captain and flanker

On Scotland's frustration:

"Got to give credit to South Africa for putting us under pressure and we just couldn't execute under that pressure. We pride ourselves on taking those opportunities, so we've got to be better."

On any positives that Scotland can take from the defeat:

"I'm really proud of how we fronted up physically, I thought our defence was excellent today. There’s loads to play for and we’ve got a bye week now, so we’ve just got to dust ourselves off. I said to the guys 'All the hard work that we've put in hasn't gone away, we've still got loads to play for'."

Gregor Townsend, head coach

On losing the game in a short second-half period:

"We defended well in the first half and grew into the set-piece and I thought we would have kicked on in the second half, but they won the third quarter hands down. A lot of that was down to their good play but also our inaccuracy."

On bouncing back:

"You've got to come out of this a better team, so it's one step back before we can go two steps forward. We know we can be better. We didn't get into the flow of our game, which can happen."

On having a bye week:

"We're going to give everybody three days off, a good chance not to think about rugby. Then we'll have a 10-day preparation for Tonga, which will be tough. We know we've got to be much better than we were today."

MEDIA CONFERENCE

Jamie Ritchie, captain and flanker

On Scotland's performance:

"A little bit mixed. Full credit to South Africa, they put us under a lot of pressure and we didn't execute under pressure.

"There are things in our control that, hopefully, are easily fixed."

On if South Africa are on a different level defensively:

"I wouldn't say different level. It's a different style that we normally face."

On Scotland's remaining pool games:

"As a group, we have got three massive games to come for us. We can't afford to slip up. The pressure is on us now. We have to hit the ground running in two weeks' time.

"Ireland was always going to be a really important game for us, but all the games are must-win now."

Gregor Townsend, head coach

On if South Africa’s Jesse Kriel should have been red-carded for the head clash with Jack Dempsey in the first minute:

"I saw it from two screens away. It did look like it was a head-on-head collision and I was expecting the TMO to come in and make the referee aware of that."

On if the incident was a potential game-changer:

"Who knows? Last night a red card didn’t change the game much in terms of Argentina’s favour, so who knows?"

On if it’s frustrating:

There are still inconsistencies in seeing these things. We are frustrated by that. But we are more frustrated by our own performance."

On fly-half Finn Russell's display after getting treatment:

"It did look like he was coming off initially, it seemed a rib injury was going to stop him continuing. But he dug deep and fought really hard. I thought some of his defensive work in the second half was outstanding.

"It just shows how much he cares about his team-mates and playing for Scotland."

On his thoughts about Scotland’s performance:

"Disappointed, really disappointed. We were slow to get going in the first half. We built into the game and physically we were more than up for the challenge of the way South Africa play.”

On what has to improve to qualify from the pool:

"Accuracy in attack. We only scored three points, that’s unusual for us. Credit to South Africa’s defence but we will have to be much better there."

MIXED ZONE REACTION

Dave Cherry, hooker

On South Africa's physicality being the difference:

"I don't think so. Physically, we stood up pretty well, it's just execution. The breakdown and things like that, it's not physically are you capable, it's skillset. It's a skill at the breakdown. It's a skill catching under pressure. So that's it for me, physically I don't think we were out of all the races."

Huw Jones, centre