A defensive error saw the South Africans lose 1-0 at Mandemakers Stadium in Waalwijk, but Pauw believes the experience will be invaluable going into the Olympics.
“At the start my players were nervous, thinking that The Netherlands is a top country, and didn’t know what to expect,” she says.
“I could see they had too much respect for them, but from the moment they felt they could play against them, they got more confident.
“At half-time we made a few changes and this helped us in the second half as it stopped the Dutch team from going forward. They didn’t know how to get behind our defence, and we ended up with better chances. We could have scored at least two goals.”
Pauw adds that there were lessons learnt in preparations for the likes of Sweden, China and Brazil at the Olympics.
“Of course for us this is a good result, but it’s more about the performance which gave hope for improvement. We only conceded the goal because we did not stick to the game-plan – like wrong players in the wall, which closed the view for the goalkeeper.
“And at this level such things cost you the game, in that sense it was a good learning curve and we cannot afford to make such mistakes. I keep saying, if you don’t make silly mistakes then you stand a good chance against any team.”
The two nations will meet in a repeat fixture on Tuesday at the same venue.