Boks work remote to cut out howlers

The Springboks' think-tank have spent considerable time reviewing video footage of the win at Loftus at the weekend and they will use the the next few days to address weaknesses ahead of the second Test against France on Saturday.

Springboks assistant coach Franco Smith said yesterday they could have scored at least four more tries in Pretoria had the players converted some of their chances.

"We should have scored four more tries at least," he said.

"If you think about the line break from Siya Kolisi, that Oupa Mahoje was within 2m of the tryline right at the beginning, the ball bounced over the head of Courtnall Skosan ... there were one or two incidents where the ball just didn't stick after we created space.

"There is a lot of work being done with the video this week. Those issues can now be addressed because we have footage.

"Uncharacteristically, the ball bounced higher than expected at Loftus but we don't coach what could have happened.

"It is nice to see that we created chances at this level."

Smith said despite the missed chances, they were happy to see the final product.

"After two weeks of preparations going into last week's game we were all excited to see the final product out there.

"The boys played well even though there is room for improvement," he said.

The French will be boosted by the availability of some of their experienced players who missed the Loftus opener and Smith said they expect a backlash from Les Bleus.

"The main aim will obviously be to play with a little bit more depth and keep on working hard at our set-pieces because we expect a big challenge from the French in the wider channel.

"They are going to try to put the ball behind us and there is a lot of work still to be done.

"It was important for us to get the first win under our belt in Pretoria for confidence purposes and we must thrive on it.

"My experience from the Heineken Cup, where you play French teams back to back, is that there is always a backlash in the new week," Smith said.

"We expect a better game from them and we need to up what we have been doing another notch."