Booth’s side would score 21 unanswered points in the last ten minutes to come back from 28-17 down to shock the Lions in a five-try performance. Owen Watkin, George North, Keelan Giles, Cameron Jones and Morgan Morse would all be on the scoresheet in a pulsating nine-try affair.
“It makes me emotional thinking about it because character has just beaten talent,” said Booth.
“We’ve always talked about how strong we are, things that we take pride in and how the cultural stuff gets us through.
“Richard Fussell probably said it best to me that the good thing about this team is that it doesn’t know when it’s beaten and that really encapsulates it.
“That is something as a group we are really proud of and I’m sure the supporters are too and long may it continue.
“That was probably one of the ugliest performances we’ve produced if I’m being honest from an accuracy point of view.
“We hung in there tough, and it could have got away from us with a ten-point lead but as he said we don’t know when we’re beaten.
“The turning point was the knock on for the maul try and we grew in confidence from that, and the youngster put their hands up, they’re not going to take a backwards step. From that point of view, it bodes well.
“We will play better and lose for sure, but we will take it all day long to get what we have out of this fixture. It’s the first time we have won away from home in South Africa.
“The nature of the win with who had out on the injury list and also after 13 weeks is a fitting end to what’s happened so far.
“The connection we have with each other, and the supporters get you through the hard moments and you have to enjoy moments like this because there are always dark times coming.
“That gives you the energy and the buoyancy to deal with the tough stuff and similarly the tough stuff gives you the resilience to not be there again.
“We are delighted about that [gaining a home tie in the last-16] and we’ll enjoy that when it comes around.
“There are a lot of games to be played first before that [the prospect of Connacht or Sale in April]. There are a lot of people to come back from injury.
“We had a lot of boys who went well for us today in a period where we haven’t had a chance to rotate. There is still though a lot of stuff to navigate up until then.”
One downside of the victory was the loss of centre George North to injury, with the 31-year-old now a doubt for Wales’ Six Nations opener against Scotland on February 3.
“George [North] is sore. He has a neural element in his shoulder which has shut down a bit,” continued Booth.
“The Welsh boys aren’t flying back with us they are flying now so I’m not sure that will be the most comfortable flight for him, but he has a bit of recovery time before getting back.
“We will hand over all the information to treat him and get him back up and running as soon as possible.
“He has been very good with the youngsters this week and we wish him a speedy recovery.”
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
