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London - Captain Faf du Plessis said before Thursday's World Cup opener against England that, win or lose, the Proteas would not read too much into the result.
It is a long tournament, Du Plessis argued, and one match would not define how South Africa fared.
A 104-run loss at The Oval will still be hard to take, though.
South Africa would have been pleased with their efforts in the field as the restricted England to 311/8 when the general feeling was that the hosts were capable of much more.
The Proteas stuck to their guns with the ball and picked up wickets at key times to stem the flow of runs.
What they couldn't deal with, however, was the destructive fast bowling of Jofra Archer.
Within his first five overs, the 24-year-old had dismissed both Aiden Markram (11) and Du Plessis (5) while he had also momentarily retired Hashim Amla with a sickening bouncer that smashed the 36-year-old in the helmet and forced him off the field.
"The flow of the innings unfortunately started with Hashim coming off the field," Du Plessis told media after the match.
"When you're chasing a score like 310 what you need is a good start and you want to settle the batting dressing room with a good partnership.
"Archer bowled really well with the new ball and a lot of guys haven't played against him. It will take time for international batsmen to get used to his action.
"He is a little bit nippier when he hits the crease and that's why he is such an x-factor player. He broke through our opening three and it was always going to be a tough ask from there."
There is no time to dwell.
South Africa must quickly turn their attention to a fixture against Bangladesh at the same venue on Sunday.
For Du Plessis, the trick is to move on from this England setback as quickly as possible.
"Today England were better than us in all three facets of the game and they showed why they are such a good cricket team," he said.
"As disappointed as we are in our performances today, we have to make sure that we learn from it quickly and put every single doubt to bed, because there is a next game where you have to play good cricket again.
"It's about making sure that the dressing room looks at the areas where we got it wrong and we just move on ... that's it."
@LloydBurnard is in England covering the 2019 Cricket World Cup for Sport24 ...
