Wales coach Warren Gatland praised new cap George North following a try-scoring debut against South Africa but failed to hide his disappointment at another narrow loss to a Tri-Nations superpower.

North crossed twice in a 29-25 loss and Gatland duly paid tribute to a player he believes to have a big future in the game.

"He was okay, wasn't he?" Gatland said. "It's nice to have the balance between him and Shane, a bigger winger and a smaller winger, and he got us out of trouble a few times.

"It was a great debut, to score two tries. He was not afraid to go looking for the ball. We hope we have found someone a bit special, we are glad he is capped now as he has an English father, and we hope to see him in that jersey a few more times."

But the New Zealander let slip his true feelings when reflecting on a missed opportunity to claim a first Tri-Nations scalp since beating Australia in 2008.

"It was same old same old wasn't it?" he said. "We are gutted, it was a big chance for us and we came up short. It was a great game for the neutral and I am proud of how we played. It was a step up from last week and we played some great rugby. But at the end of the day it's about winning and we lost and we can't hide behind that."

Wales look set to be without Shane Williams for the near future after the wing was forced off with a shoulder injury at half-time. He joins prop Gethin Jenkins and flanker Dan Lydiate, both late withdrawals, on the injured list.

George North starred in defeat for Wales © Getty Images

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"With Shane it looks as though his shoulder has popped out and then popped back in again, so we are not sure how long he may need to recover from that," Gatland said. "Gethin did a calf and Dan has an ankle problem. Dan could be a week or so away from fitness but with Gethin, calf injuries are two or three weeks, maybe a bit longer."

South Africa coach Peter De Villiers was impressed by the character his side showed to fight back after a first-half where they had come second in every facet of the game.

"We should look at this as a test of character and the guys showed plenty of that," he said. "I was really disappointed at half-time, we let ourselves down and we were waiting for things to happen and the message was to go out and try and make things happen."