Jarrod Evans was bitterly disappointed to leave Johannesburg empty-handed as Cardiff failed to complete a comeback in the United Rugby Championship.
The Blue and Blacks found themselves trailing 17-6 in the altitude and baking heat of Ellis Park and had one try ruled out before staging a comeback.
But tries either side of the half from Aled Summerhill and James Botham, plus the boot of centurion Evans, brought Cardiff to within four points.
They were pressing for the win, or at the very least a losing bonus-point, but following a sustained period of pressure, in which the Emirates Lions were fortunate to stay at full compliment, Kristian Dacey was yellow carded for contact to the head and the opportunity lost.
Evans said: “The start wasn’t great for us today and probably cost us. We cannot afford to give these South African teams that many easy entries to the 22 because we know that’s their game, they are very powerful boys.
“We had a patch just after half-time where I felt the tables had turned but it wasn’t enough.
“We had one or two entries into their 22 but we just didn’t convert and it felt like when they got into our 22, they were pretty clinical and that was the game.
“There was a lot of effort out there with the altitude and everything but we regroup and go again.
“It was tough for the boys but I don’t think that was the reason we lost. The game was there for us and to come away with nothing is just disappointing really.
“That (yellow card) was pretty much the game. We were five metres out a few times, we had a maul try disallowed, the game was quite slow and we wanted to pick it up but it felt like there was a stoppage every time when we wanted some phase play against these boys.
“I feel like if we got that then we would have caused them more problems but as the card happened, it didn’t help our cause.”
Evans was one of three players hitting a significant milestone with his 100th first team appearance for the club, while Dmitri Arhip made his 50th and Rey Lee-Lo reached 100 championship fixtures.
And despite the disappointment of defeat, Evans was proud of the achievement.
He added: “I’m really proud of that. It feels like yesterday that I made my debut so to get 100 here at Ellis Park is something I am really proud of.”