Kolisi: Doing this once is not enough

South Africa trumped Italy 63-21 in their penultimate test on their end-of-year European tour on Saturday, showing signs of their best following two disappointing defeats to France and Ireland in their two earlier matches this month.

After scoring nine tries, Kolisi has called for the team to build on the performance as they continue preparations for next year's World Cup in France, where the Boks will be looking to defend their crown.

"As a team, we want to play well, score tries, offload and put people away, and we enjoyed the game today. We also enjoy the physical part of the game, and to get that balance right was important," said Kolisi.

"That said, doing this once is not enough, we have to keep doing it. The last two games were very close, but I believe we are heading in the right direction."

After leading 18-13 at half-time, the introduction of the 'Bomb Squad' took the team to another level as they dotted down a further seven times to take the game completely away from the Azzurri, recording their biggest win on Italian soil ever.

"I'm pleased with the way we prepared for the match," the skipper added. "We showed Italy the respect they deserve and, as I said on Friday, they're a very different team to a few years ago.

"We knew we had to play to the best of our ability, and it was clear by how tight the first half was. We had to dig deep. 

"As South Africans, we are used to facing adversity and we knew we had to lift ourselves. Our focus all week was only on the game because it was very important for us to get a win today."

The Springboks round out their Outgoing Tour with a clash against England at Twickenham this coming Saturday at 19:30 (SA time).