More patience is needed by the Springboks in the red zone when they face the All Blacks in Pretoria on Saturday, Bok captain Siya Kolisi says.
Kolisi said hard work would be done on the training pitch ahead of a crunch Rugby Championship showdown against a New Zealand side who have already been crowned champions.
After their hard-fought 23-12 win over the Wallabies in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, the Boks are hunting a double over the All Blacks following their upset win in Wellington two weeks ago.
With a capacity 51,000 crowd behind them inside the Loftus Versfeld cauldron, the Boks will be hoping to lay down a marker ahead of next year’s World Cup in Japan.
“We have got to be more patient when we get to the 22,” Kolisi said.
“Against Australia we started well and then we took our foot off the pedal. They then came at us and took their opportunities. Though I am happy with the way we started, there is room for improvement each and every week.
“The guys displayed guts in the second half. We did not have enough ball, but we defended well, even though we did not look pretty.”
As he contemplated facing the All Blacks at Loftus, coach Rassie Erasmus said the players were coming to grips with their new defensive system.
“It’s not something you get in a book or can learn at a training session. It’s only by making mistakes that we can learn and eventually we should make fewer mistakes. We will get that right,” he said.
“Siya Kolisi made a great spot tackle to save us, as did Sikhumbuzo Notshe.
“Cheslin Kolbe made a lot of good tackles and overall we are getting the hang of it.
“In Pretoria it’s going to be a tough challenge because New Zealand have faced our defence already in this tournament. They will make plans to adjust.
“We scored five tries in the last game against the All Blacks.
“If we could do that again, it would be fantastic. The thing is, I think we created more chances against Australia than we did in the game against the All Blacks,” the Bok coach said.
“If we had converted even one or two more chances, the game may have gone differently. If we don’t convert those kinds of chances next week against the All Blacks, it will be tough to win.”