South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer believes the Springboks should have earned a place in the Rugby World Cup final after losing 20-18 to New Zealand in the last four.

Meyer's men came up short against the defending world champions despite having held a 12-7 lead at half-time, ending their hopes of becoming the first team to win the competition three times.

Instead it is New Zealand who will have an opportunity to rewrite history when they contest the tournament showpiece against Australia or Argentina.

The prospect of South Africa losing by only two points to the All Blacks looked unlikely after they suffered a humiliating 34-32 defeat to Japan in the Pool C opener.

But Meyer took little solace from the narrow nature of the loss, saying: "I am very proud. I don't think any people gave us any chance [after the loss to Japan].

"But the guys came through and the youngsters really matured. It will never be good enough if I coach South Africa to come close and not win.

"We had a chance and we didn't take it. We should have been in the final and I will never settle for second."

Asked about his future as head coach, Meyer added: "You can see how grey I am but I have always said I am here to serve. I'm just thinking about today. I only wanted to make the country proud - not of me but the team.

"I truly believe we had our chances but we faced an established team and 80-90 per cent of our players are going to have another World Cup in them.

"It's been a huge honour to serve my country. If you lose I don't care if it's by one point or by 50 points. It's painful if it's one point or 100 points. All credit to the All Blacks."