Boks will ‘study the video and see exactly where we can improve’ for France clash, says Van den Berg

The Springboks acknowledge that while Saturday’s 66-7 victory over Italy in Turin was excellent for building momentum going into Friday’s clash against France in Paris, there is much room for improvement.

Bok scrumhalf Morne van den Berg said the South Africans will thoroughly review the match that kicked off their Nations Championship Northern Series with a solid victory to identify the areas in which they can improve this week.

The Test against France will be followed by a clash against Ireland in Dublin on November 21, before the competition wraps up with a jam-packed Finals Weekend in London on the weekend of November 27 to 29.

Van den Berg, named player of the match against Italy, said the accolade was special and that he will always cherish wearing the green and gold, but there is still work to be done.

“There’s a lot to improve on in our game, which is actually quite exciting,” Van den Berg said after the game, in which he scored one of the Boks’ nine tries.

“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 an incredible team and nation and we expected that, but that’s perhaps where we could have been better. They are incredible people and warriors.”

While the Boks were disappointed with their second-half performance after building an impressive 45-0 lead at the break, Van den Berg said securing the desired result was vital in the inaugural Nations Championship.

“It was especially important to get our game and the things we worked on during the week right. Obviously it was important for us to get momentum going into next week’s game, so the result was very important.”

The Springboks made the journey from Italy to France on Saturday evening and arrived at their base later that night to allow them to turn to their focus immediately to Friday’s match (10.10pm SA time).