It is a phrase which will haunt the Highlanders when they look back on their 2008 Super 14 season.
The latest honorable defeat came yesterday when they were beaten 16-26 by the Stormers in Cape Town. The team showed heart and bounced back from a humiliating 17-47 loss to the Bulls a week earlier.
‘‘We wanted to show a bit of guts and I think we did that today,'' captain Craig Newby said after the game. ‘‘We are pretty proud of our effort today.''
‘‘We were gutted by our effort against the Bulls and wanted to return to the form we had shown all year,'' he said.
There were plenty of examples of a gutsy and determined defence against the Stormers. In the seventeenth minute, the Stormers had a series of 5m scrums close to the Highlanders line, but the forward defence held and the raids were repulsed.
After 19min, Stormers hooker Tiaan Liebenberg was racing for a try in the corner when he was cut down by wing Fetu'u Vainikolo.
Fullback Paul Williams was a lion on defence and displayed his courage by tackling big Fijian winger Sireli Naqelevuki when he was speeding up the touchline after 43min.
Halfback Jimmy Cowan, Newby, flanker Adam Thomson, lock Tom Donnelly and prop Clint Newland were all aggressive tacklers.
At half-time, the score was 9-9 and the Highlanders were still in the game.
However, the team's inexperience was again shown when it let the Stormers score 17 points in the final 14min of the game.
The Stormers scored a brilliant 85m try after 48min that shattered the Highlanders' hopes.
Winger Naqelevuki sped up the touchline, with backs and forwards joining in before hooker Tiaan Liebenberg scored in the opposite corner.
Newland was sin-binned for pulling down the maul, and while he was off the paddock the Stormers added seven more points when replacement hooker Schalk Brits scored to stretch their lead to 17 points.
The Highlanders' defensive resolution was tested as the Stormers tried for the bonus point.
But it was the Highlanders who had the last laugh when replacement first five-eighth Blair Stewart kicked across-field into the Stormers' 22m and Vainikolo sped to his sixth try of the season.
First five-eighth Mike Delany had his best game of the season. His tactical kicking was accurate and he made an early break through the first line of the Stormers defence.
His drop goal after 6min put the Highlanders on the board and he added two penalty goals to keep them on level pegging at half-time.
Former Highlander Tony Brown looked all class at fly-half for the Stormers until he left the field after 25min with an injury to his left thigh.
Stormers 26 (Tiaan Liebenberg, Schalk Brits tries; Tony Brown 3 penalty goals, Peter Grant penalty goal, 2 conversions), Highlanders 16 (Fetu'u Vainikolo try; Mike Delany 2 penalty goals, dropped goal, Blair Stewart conversion). Half-time: 9-9. Referee: James Leckie (Australia).
Crowd: 40,000.
