Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus wants his team to improve their finishing ahead of their clash with New Zealand at Loftus this week.
South Africa squandered a lot of try-scoring opportunities in their 23-12 win over Australia in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
And while happy with the win, Erasmus says: “I think we created more chances than we did against New Zealand [in the Boks’ 36-34 win in Wellington] and if we had converted some of those the game would have gone very differently.
“If we’d taken them we could have given them a hiding. In the past couple of months when we made changes, we lost matches so to make eight changes and beat Australia is something to celebrate.
"And before we start to look at where we need to improve, we should probably enjoy the victory.”
South Africa started like a house on fire but then took their foot off the pedal in the second half.
Of the last 40, Erasmus adds: “In the second half we didn’t play well but we showed a lot of character once again.
“Overall I think the guys are getting the hang of the defensive system but it’s not something that you can get right through talking about it or on the training ground.
“It’s something you have to make mistakes trying, and learn from those mistakes.”