Wales couldn't quite get the job done as they fell to a 30-14 defeat in the series decider against South Africa.
But after the shambolic end to the Six Nations, they will return home with reputation restored after a battling effort over the three- Test campaign.
Here's what the media in South Africa and the UK are saying after Saturday's events in Cape Town.
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Ashfak Mohamed, Cape Sports Editor, IOL
The Cape Town Stadium is almost made for a party, and while the Springboks were far from perfect against Wales, there were enough good signs for the South African fans to leave the grand arena with smiles on their faces on Saturday night.
The final score was 30-14 to the Boks, but it could so easily have been 50-14.
It was a much better performance from Jacques Nienaber’s side compared to the first two Tests, as they at least tried to take the game to the Welsh instead of just playing off their mistakes.
And they made sure that they didn’t allow history to be rewritten for a second week in a row as they denied the Welsh a first series win in South Africa. So, job done on the night and the series win in the bag, but Nienaber and Co will know that the Boks still have a long way to go to be at their best.
Alex Bywater, MailOnline
Wales went into a decider at DHL Stadium with a series win possible. That they were even in such a position was remarkable given the paucity of their Six Nations campaign. Ultimately, their aspirations were snuffed out by trademark Springbok power.
Wales, unsurprisingly, were out on their feet. Their bottle cannot be questioned and their defence has impressed across the three matches. But their lineout, led by replacement hooker Lake, went to pot late on and ultimately, they conceded too many penalties over the course of the series to come out on top.
Andrew Baldock, PA Sport (Independent)
Wales battled hard throughout, but they could only muster a Tommy Reffell try and three penalties from captain Dan Biggar as they missed out on completing the hat-trick for the north and more importantly setting a new standard for Welsh rugby.
However, just four months after losing at home to Italy in the Six Nations, Wales will rightly view the tour as being successful in so many ways, particularly with one eye on next year’s World Cup. Ultimately, though, South Africa had too much in the tank for a Wales team that gave it everything and generated plenty of optimism for Pivac as the World Cup countdown continues.
Lloyd Burnard, Sport 24
It was comfortable enough in the end for the hosts, but Wales would not throw in the towel and kept fighting until the very end. There is certainly still work to be done, and there were moments of defensive lapses and some questionable decision-making with ball in hand, but the Springboks relied on true grit on this warm Cape Town night in front of an electric crowd.
Nobody typified that courage more than Damian Willemse, who started the match at fullback but shifted to inside centre before sustaining a nasty ankle injury.
SA Rugby Mag
The Springbok gave Eben Etzebeth and Bongi Mbonambi a memorable day on their respective milestones. Having claimed a nail-biting win in the first Test in Pretoria and lost the second in Bloemfontein, this was a return to power for the Springboks as their heavy artillery fired on all cylinders to simply overpower a gutsy Wales effort.
Wales again threatened a comeback in the second half as two cheap penalties from the Springboks allowed Biggar to narrow the deficit to just three points.
However, that was when the Springboks turned to their famed Bomb Squad and it paid almost immediate dividends.
Yahoo! News, AFP
Despite the series loss, gutsy Wales will leave the republic with a greatly enhanced reputation after putting behind them a humiliating home loss to Italy in the Six Nations in March. Success for South Africa halted a run of series victories by northern hemisphere teams – with France winning in Japan last weekend, and Ireland in New Zealand and England in Australia earlier on Saturday.
Gavin Rich, SuperSport
The Welsh were as resilient as they always are but the world champion Springboks brought the right mix to their game as they powered to a 30-14 win. For a while there might have been concerns of a repeat of the previous week in Bloemfontein, where the Boks lost a game they should have won, but this was a game where the Boks delivered on just about every front.
They continued what the alternative team started before blowing it in the final quarter of an hour at Toyota Stadium, with the Boks mixing their power and pace superbly to keep Wales under pressure for most of a game where they were never ahead.
Wales, who weren’t helped by losing No 8 Taulupe Falatau just before kickoff to be replaced by Josh Navidi, eventually just found that courage isn’t enough against these opponents.
Steffan Thomas, The Sunday Times
Despite the result, Wales have exceeded expectations in South Africa. The soft underbelly which was present during an extremely poor Six Nations campaign appears to be gone, which has made them difficult to beat again. Wales mourned the loss of arguably the world's greatest defence coach, Shaun Edwards, but Gethin Jenkins has solidified their performances off the ball; the emergence of Leicester Tigers openside has also been the find of the summer.
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