‘The lads are pretty battered’ – Caelan Doris backs injury-ravaged Ireland to bounce back in Durban

And the man who is tipped to take over the captaincy from Peter O’Mahony in the coming season believes there is one last performance left in the team as they leave Johannesburg for Durban where they’ll play the second Test next Saturday.

They’re likely to be without Dan Sheehan who hurt his knee in the 27-20 defeat, while Craig Casey is almost certainly out. There are a number of key players also nursing injuries as we await an injury bulletin from the IRFU.

It’s the final push of an extraordinary long season, but Doris believes they can perform better.

“The lads are pretty battered in there," he said.

"A good bit of frustration about how we went in the first half, some of our discipline, they miss two or three shots at goal so we were lucky with that to be able to hang in, one score in the game.

"Definitely a lot of frustration, but it's a big week coming up so we can't dwell on it too much. We have to look forward and try to fix some of the things that didn't go right for us today and try to get a win next week.

"It was tight margins as clichéd as that is.

"The message in the changing rooms after the game was not to dwell on it, not to sulk too much and feel sorry because there's still a big game coming next week.

"We want to finish the season on a high with a good performance and a win, so lads are pretty battered but we'll recover well and get into it on Monday."

Doris took over the captaincy when Peter O’Mahony was called ashore and was involved in a succession of refereeing exchanges with Luke Pearce where he appeared to struggle to keep the English referee onside.

"It's tricky trying to get the balance right between being there, being a presence, and trying to have some sort of influence but not pushing it too far where you're having a negative effect,” he said.

"So it's trying to get that balance right, it's something to get better at."

Doris said he is on a mission to get back to his best.

"I was happy enough with some elements of it,” Doris said.

"I would have spoken to you guys about trying to get my attacking game back to where it was maybe a few years ago.

"So I've had a little more emphasis on my carries over the last few weeks and I've been happy enough with how that's going.

"I've been watching Ben Earl, Aaron Wainright, Rob Valetini this morning, caught glimpses of them, and seeing so many other eights playing so well definitely pushes you to try and bring your A game.

"But obviously, the team result and performance is the main thing."

Doris has no doubt that Ireland can bounce back.

"I think that's why it's frustrating because we feel we're definitely good enough to get a win away from home in a pretty hostile environment," he said.

"We relish that challenge and it's definitely frustrating not coming out on top but the belief if still there and we're going to rock into the week and not dwell on the loss.

“The way they play, pretty set-piece orientated, around the corner off nine quite a bit, you've got to front up and you've got to win collisions physically.

"We've done that well the last couple of times playing against them and that's been the basis for the result.

"They played a bit more expansively today, definitely, and probably tested us. Their first try, they got around us, they played with width and depth so that will be a work-on for next week."