British & Irish Lions captain Paul O'Connell expressed his satisfaction with a record-equalling 28-9 victory over South Africa in the third and final Test in Johannesburg on Saturday.

It was a day of celebration for the tourists, who not only ended an eight-year victory run by South Africa in Johannesburg, but also recorded their first win at the venue in more than 50 years.

The Boks' last loss in Johannesburg was a 23-32 defeat at the hands of France in June 2001.

The Lions haven't won in Johannesburg since 1955 and they equalled the biggest winning margin - the 28-9 victory the Lions recorded in Pretoria in 1974.

O'Connell, who was able to celebrate a superior try-count (7-5) and aggregate score (72-63) in the series to go along with the win on Saturday, said his team had to "dig deep" after going 0-2 down in the series.

"Very satisfying," he said of the win, adding: "It was a tough week, knowing we had lost the series.

"We had to dig deep."

He also spoke of how hard they had to work without a number of key players, out with injury, to secure the win.

"Jamie [Roberts] and Brian [O'Driscoll] have been our best players on tour - they've been making line-breaks and turning ball over. It was tough going into the game without them, but everyone stood up and was counted and everyone backed up and really pulled out a big performance."

The Lions lock said it would have been tough to come away with a 0-3 series defeat after they ran the Boks close in the first two Tests.

"We were determined to dig as deep as we could. I hope people don't misconstrue our lap of honour. We're under no illusions we lost the Test series. But a lot of people paid a lot of money to come out here, we wanted to thank them.

"The guys are very conscious of the Lions ethos and wanted to do it proud. The first Test we could have won, the second we should have won... we were eager that kind of memory wouldn't be upset by a poor performance today, knowing we were beaten and throwing in the towel.

"The team that wins is the better team. You do what you have to do to win. The trophy goes to the team that wins. Ian McGeechan said before the game you earn respect by winning.

"Sure, people have been patting us on the backs for our performances but for some guys here it was the first win on the Southern Hemisphere, and that's important."

Coach Ian McGeechan, who confirmed it was his last game involved with the Lions, praised his team's character for coming back from two nil down to win the final Test.

"They picked themselves up well," said McGeechan. "I mean the dressing room last week was one I never wanted to be in, so to come this week, play like that, shows they're an outstanding group of players.

"I was worried that they wouldn't play or might go into their shells a bit but we didn't and we scored some very good tries today. There is disappointment still in that we could have been coming into this one 1-0 or 2-0 up.

"So it's a satisfaction but a secondary satisfaction because we came here to win the series. I think it will be my last Lions involvement. I'd like to thank the players, they've been outstanding to a man."

365

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