FORGET bearded ghosts sat on radiators, key moments in the 22 at the south end of Twickenham will have haunted Wales as they struggled to sleep on the final night at their Surrey hotel before checking out of the World Cup.

Another stupendous defensive effort meant they left the tournament with heads held high.

Warren Gatland's men – or should that be Shaun Edwards' men? – can never be questioned in terms of attitude, application and sheer bloody-mindedness.

However, doubts linger about their guile, craft and nous after yet another spirited but ultimately failed performance against a southern hemisphere big gun.

"We're not interested in sympathy," declared Dan Biggar afterwards but his plea has largely fallen on deaf ears.

But compassion must be mixed with cold, brutal honesty - they gave absolutely everything but blew it this World Cup.

Events in that darned 22, where in the second week of the tournament Gareth Davies gleefully gathered Lloyd Williams kick through to beat hosts England, proved to be their undoing.

Firstly it was their failure to smash through the 13-man Australians when camped at that end in the Pool A decider, a botched job that meant it was a last-eight showdown with the Springboks rather than the Scots.

And then, after their profligacy had led to them being in the hard side of the draw, they contrived to display the very same wasteful habits in the opening stages against South Africa.

Like against the Wallabies, they came flying out of the blocks and they should have set the tone with a try inside three minutes.

Newport Gwent Dragons centre Tyler Morgan, in just his 26th game in senior rugby, started it all with a superb strip on Damian de Allende.

George North went powering into the 22 but when the ball was recycled a five on three was blown, Dan Lydiate getting in the way of Alex Cuthbert and Gethin Jenkins only finding touch with his looping pass intended for the unmarked Morgan wide right.

Then with 13 on the clock and the score at 6-0 to the Boks, another five on three chance inside that 22 went begging when lock Luke Charteris cut back inside.

Those two incidents plus some mind-numbing penalties – down to Welsh indiscipline NOT referee Wayne Barnes – meant the South Africans led 12-10 after a quarter, the men in red having finally crossed the whitewash thanks to Dan Biggar's glorious claim then offload to scrum-half Gareth Davies from his own up and under.

The Welsh number booted a neat drop goal with the final play of the half and then traded penalties with opposite number Handre Pollard to put his side on the brink of the semi-finals with six minutes left.

South Wales Argus:

Wales, brilliantly schooled by Edwards and showing incredible desire, looked pretty comfortable despite the slender two-point advantage.

They had stood firm against the Boks brutal but predictably direct charges and had sorted out their discipline when inside their own half.

But then came the last haunting moment, far worse than the ghoulish goings-on that had been reported at their Oatlands Park base in Surrey in the build-up to the Australia game.

South Africa had definitely bossed the second half but had failed to crack a Wales side superbly led by Sam Warburton and thriving at the contact area to protect their line.

A penalty seemed their only hope and superb scrum-half Fourie du Preez was becoming increasingly frantic in his efforts to try and buy a three-pointer at the breakdown, trying to trap tacklers and waving manically towards Mr Barnes.

But there was nothing frenzied about what was by a distance the classiest moment of an engaging but predictably attritional Test.

Duane Vermuelen picked the ball up from the base of a scrum that had screwed clockwise and ran towards the left flank.

Scrum-half Lloyd Williams went low but wing Alex Cuthbert felt the need to help finish the job, mindful that the monstrous number eight had the ball in his right arm.

However, Vermeulen conjured a majestic offload to allow du Preez to race over and take the spoils.

There is much pride at the way that Wales performed at the World Cup despite a lengthy injury list yet they should have stayed the duration.

Cool heads and a touch more guile in enemy territory – sadly a familiar failing under Gatland against the big three – would have seen them facing the All Blacks and in all likelihood then a bronze match.

Forget 'learning the lessons', perhaps Wales are already at their peak playing with this manner and the same personnel.

Welsh rugby has enjoyed great success under Gatland but those gutting losses to the big three keep piling up with the wounds so frequently self-inflicted.

History keeps painfully repeating itself.

Wales: G Anscombe, A Cuthbert, T Morgan (J Hook 68), J Roberts, G North, D Biggar (R Priestland 73), G Davies (L Williams 71), G Jenkins (P James 56), S Baldwin (K Owens 57), S Lee (T Francis 56), L Charteris (B Davies 64), A W Jones, D Lydiate (J Tipuric 68), S Warburton (captain), T Faletau.

Scorers: try – G Davies; conversion – D Biggar; penalties – D Biggar (3); drop goal – D Biggar

South Africa: W le Roux, JP Pietersen, J Kriel (J Serfontein 68), D De Allende, B Habana, H Pollard (P Lambie 76), F du Preez (captain), T Mtawarira (T Nyakane 57), B du Plessis (A Strauss 11-23 55), F Malherbe (J du Plessis 62), E Etzebeth (P du Toi 68), L de Jager, F Louw (W Alberts 68), S Burger, D Vermeulen.

Scorers: try – F du Preez; penalties – H Pollard (5); drop goal – H Pollard

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Attendance: 79,572