Wales captain Sam Warburton refused to blame their Rugby World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of South Africa on the raft of injuries suffered by the team.

Warren Gatland's men saw their World Cup come to an end on Saturday as a late try from Fourie du Preez settled the last-eight encounter at Twickenham in favour of the Springboks, who claimed a 23-19 success.

Big-name backs such as Leigh Halfpenny, Jonathan Davies and Rhys Webb all picked up injuries before the tournament while the likes of Hallam Amos and Scott Williams suffered blows that ended their participation in the pool stage.

But flanker Warburton said: "We don't blame the injuries for going out. We were pretty lucky that we could play in a quarter-final with our full forward pack.

"Considering you have got [centre] Tyler [Morgan] coming in and still does a great job it's great going forward.

"[Scrum-half] Gareth Davies got a few tries and him and Tyler and [full-back Gareth] Anscombe are great going forward."

Asked about his emotions after the defeat, Gatland was understandably sombre. He said: "We're absolutely gutted. Unfortunately we weren't able to hold on for 80 minutes. We are incredibly disappointed.

"I couldn't have asked for more from the players in terms of effort. Wales can be very proud of these players. The group set us up nicely for today and they've given 100 per cent. They've emptied the tank and that's all I can ask for."