Frank Hadden was a picture of frustration after seeing Scotland blow a golden opportunity to beat world champions South Africa as they lost their place at rugby's top table.

Head coach Hadden watched his side roar into a 10-0 half-time lead at Murrayfield, but the Springboks scored 14 unanswered points after the break before holding on to secure victory.

"It's difficult to explain how gutted we are at that, simply because of the amount of work that's gone in," said Hadden, whose side were also beaten 32-6 by a second-string New Zealand team last Saturday.

The defeat meant Scotland lost their status as second seeds going into the draw for the World Cup, all but guaranteeing a nightmare pool at the 2011 tournament in New Zealand.

"I'm not just talking about last week, I'm talking behind the scenes, I'm talking over the years, the battle we've had since professionalism began to cling on to our place at the top table with our resources," he added.

"It's a massive battle that we've faced over a last few years and I felt that, slowly but surely, we had been winning that battle."

Hadden, who once again pointed out the lack of preparation time he was afforded going into a series of Tests, accepted his side had wasted a great chance to save their own skins.

He said: "We knew that we were going to be more competitive because we have another week under our belts in terms of players getting familiar with each other again.

"But, ultimately, the game was there for the taking."