Springbok scrumhalf Morne van den Berg admitted that he experienced mixed emotions on Saturday night after being named the man-of-the-match in their Castle Lager Incoming Series opener against Italy in Pretoria.
The livewire scrumhalf, who scored two first-half tries in the Boks' 42-24 victory, said that although the accolade was memorable, they had to go back to the drawing board and lift their standards significantly ahead of their next match.
The teams will meet again at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday, 12 July, before the Boks wrap up their July campaign against Georgia at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit a week later on 19 July.
“It was special to be named man of the match and to score my first Test try, but for me, the most important thing is always to serve the team to the best of my ability,” said Van den Berg.
“We know we could have performed much better on the day, although we always expected it to be an arm wrestle, especially if one looks at some of Italy’s results in the last two seasons and the way they started the Six Nations.
“That said, it was exactly the match we needed to measure where we are compared to where we want to and need to be, so we took valuable lessons from the game.”
Looking forward to their next outing against the Azzurri on Saturday, Van den Berg said there was hard work ahead this week to raise the standard of their game immensely.
“Everyone now knows what Italy can do, and I don’t think the public will underestimate them again this week, but at the same time, we also know we were off the pace and that we need a massive step-up in all areas of our game,” said the nippy scrumhalf.
“We let ourselves down, and leaked three tries, which is not good enough, so we will go back to the drawing board tomorrow and do everything we can to rectify the areas that need to improve on because Italy and Georgia are both physical and passionate teams, and it is vital for us to get back on track.”
The Springboks departed for Gqeberha on Sunday and will begin their on-field preparations for the match on Monday.