Wednesday 22 June 2016 21:37, UK
Andrew Trimble says Ireland are determined to make history in Saturday's third Test decider against South Africa in Port Elizabeth.
Ireland were 20 minutes away from a series win at Ellis Park, but let a 16-point lead slip to lose the second Test to South Africa and set up a decider.
The tourists have been recovering from the bruising nature of the 32-26 defeat as they enter the final leg of their season in South Africa's Eastern Cape but the Ulster winger has not lost sight of the fact that the scenario remains the same a week on.
"It's important that we get some perspective back and just remember that we still have a great opportunity to create history," Trimble said.
"We're more aware now than we ever have been with how tough it's going to be, how physical they are, how fast South Africa are.
"Whenever they click, they're very, very difficult to stop. We'll have to look at a few things to figure out how to stop that.
"We're aware that we can be a quality side and win Test matches. We can come to the southern hemisphere and win games, but there's no point in us talking about that, we need to prove that and back that talk up.
"We did that in Newlands, we showed an awful lot of character and dug in. We played some really good rugby that we're really proud of, but to be taken seriously, you need to back that up and we didn't do that at the weekend.
"We want to become a side that backs it up and we haven't backed it up yet."
The problem for Ireland will be summoning one last effort in their 17th and final Test match of a long season.
"We're pretty knackered," Trimble conceded. "It was a tough battle out there, very physical and very fast. The first half especially, a lot of running down my side. In the second half, we were just taking a lot of heat and a lot of punishment.
"Physically, we were by a long way, second best during that second half. We didn't win any collisions and a few boys are still feeling a few of those hits today so we're licking our wounds a little bit but we're looking forward to getting back out there and putting a few of those wrongs right."
