Morné van den Berg has urged the Springboks to sharpen their game ahead of Friday's Nations Championship clash against France in Paris, despite their 66-7 demolition of Italy in Turin — the team's opening match of the Northern Series.
Named Player of the Match on debut in the competition, Van den Berg scored one of nine Springbok tries but was candid about the second half, in which Italy reduced what had been a 45-0 half-time deficit. "There's a lot to improve on in our game, which is actually quite exciting," he said. "We'll study the video and see exactly where we can improve, but credit to Italy for putting us under pressure in the second half. They are incredible people and warriors."
The scrumhalf acknowledged that the result was the priority heading into the back-to-back Test schedule. "It was especially important to get our game and the things we worked on during the week right. The result was very important for momentum going into next week."
The Boks travelled to France on Saturday evening. After Paris, they face Ireland in Dublin the following Saturday before the competition concludes at Finals Weekend in London, 27-29 November. Friday's Test kicks off at 22h10 SA time and is live on SuperSport.