BATH flanker Francois Louw is relying on the sheer will of the Springbok group to pick themselves up after their dramatic defeat to Japan last weekend.

The 30-year-old bundled the ball over the whitewash to get his side up and running against the Cherry Blossoms after they fell behind to an early Ayumu Goromaru penalty.

At that stage, you expected the South Africans to streak off into the horizon, but the men from the Land of the Rising Sun stuck doggedly to their pursuit and refused to let their dream disappear behind the Sussex Downs.

Karne Hesketh’s try with the clock running into its 82nd minute broke the Springbok spirit.

Head coach Heyneke Meyer and captain Jean de Villiers looked broken in their post-match press conference.

However, Bath man Louw appeared more level-headed when talking to the Wiltshire Times after the game.

He has belief that the group can come back from a defeat that has been greeted with much anger back in South Africa.

“We have to pick ourselves up. There’s not a question of how really,” he said.

“We’ve got to think: 'we’ve come a long way in the last four years and we’ve been through some tough times in the past and we’ve had good times as well'.

“We know what it takes to beat the best teams in the world and we have to come back firing and do whatever it takes to win.

“Emotions are running very high, but we will have to review the game and see at where we went wrong.

“Credit to Japan though - they came out firing and put us under a lot of pressure, turned us over at vital times and unfortunately, we couldn’t put more points on the board than they did.

“I don’t think it was a question of complacency. I don’t think we played as well as we could have and they played well.

“At times, we had the game under control, but it was inconsistent for the full 80 minutes and that was what cost us in the end.”

The decision made by the Springboks in the 73rd minute to take the easy three points rather than trying to put the game out of reach by kicking to the corner was greeted with boos at the Brighton and Hove Community Stadium.

It proved costly when Japan, faced with a similar quandary in overtime, chose to scrum and were rewarded with the winning try.

Despite the consequences, Louw stands by his team's decision.

“I don’t think it was a question of bravery (at the end, when South Africa took a penalty rather than kick for the corner),” he added.

“You have to assess where you are in the game at that specific moment in time and how the game has been going.

“We made our call and I certainly would back the call we did make.

“They saw a moment in the game where they could get more points and they took those (opportunities) by executing (their gameplan) perfectly.”