Lions captain Paul O'Connell was far from happy with the performance of referee Bryce Lawrence after South Africa held off a late fightback to win the first Test 26-21 in Durban.

The Springboks opened a 26-7 lead early in the second half as the Lions struggled to cope with the world champions' destructive scrummaging power. South Africa's loose-head Tendai "The Beast" Mtawarira was named man of the match for a performance that had veteran Lions prop Phil Vickery under immense pressure.

"The referee was saying Phil was constantly going in. Phil is a very experience prop, he has played at the top of the game," said O'Connell. "How he can be seen to be making mistakes in four or five scrums is beyond me. Every time he seemed to be reffing us and not them."

Ruan Pienaar landed three first-half penalties and Francois Steyn slotted a long-range effort to build on John Smit's fifth-minute try. Heinrich Brussow rumbled over at the rear of a powerful rolling maul shortly after the interval before the Lions staged a late comeback.

Lions head coach Ian McGeechan will review the video and send a report to the International Rugby Board's referees chief Paddy O'Brien. "It comes down to interpretation and that is what we need clarification on next week," said McGeechan. "The penalty count in the first half and second half killed us. There is a protocol to review this and we will then look forward to the next Test.

"We forward our review of this game to Paddy O'Brien and any issues that come out of that go forward into the meeting with the three referees on Friday for any clarification. Both teams have got something to work off now and it is having that clarification that is important."

No Lions side have ever won a series in South Africa having lost the first Test but McGeechan is confident this team have it in them to bounce back.

"We are delighted with the performance and it gives us a lot of encouragement going into next week," said McGeechan. "We gave ourselves a mountain to climb but credit to the players and their attitude. If you look at the quality of rugby we were playing, some of it was outstanding."

Tom Croft became only the second Lions player after JJ Williams to score two tries in a Test against the Springboks while Mike Phillips darted over to set up a tense last couple of minutes. In the end it was too little too late and the Lions were left to rue a number of close calls.

Ugo Monye and Phillips both had tries ruled out by the video referee. Tommy Bowe was called back when the Lions were penalised for crossing and late in the game Monye was denied by a last-ditch cover tackle from Morne Steyn.

"When we played today we played very well and we created lots of scoring opportunities," said O'Connell. "If we hadn't played well it would be harder to take. Even at half-time, even though we were conceding penalties we were happy with the way we were playing when we had the ball. It will give us great belief for next week."

The introduction of Adam Jones for Vickery made an immediate difference to the Lions' scrummaging but there were also questions asked about South Africa's tactical substitutions.

Head coach Pieter de Villiers used all seven of his substitutions and the loss of Jean de Villiers, Smit and Mtawarira cost them momentum and cohesion. That seemed to open the door for the Lions, who took full advantage, and De Villiers admitted he could have made a mistake.

"You take whatever you can get in this game. If you think you will go into any international game and pile on points and annihilate people you are missing the boat. We will take the win," he said.

"We scored points but we never looked as if we were in control of anything and we looked a bit flat. I thought we needed to inject some enthusiasm and speed into the game. It didn't happen that way. Maybe I made too much too soon."

And Smit warned the Springboks will need to raise their game again next week after the Lions showed what they can do up front in the closing stages.

"The Lions won't lie down," said Smit. "They will come back twice as strong after that. Both teams are fighting, one to finish and one to survive so the pressure will be twice as big next week."