Springbok captain Siya Kolisi admits that had to “dig deep” to secure a victory against Italy in Genoa on Saturday afternoon.

South Africa ended their winless run after they outplayed Italy to secure a convincing 63-21 victory at the at Stadio Luigi Ferreraris in their third Castle Lager Outgoing Tour match

The Springboks will now conclude their Northern Hemisphere tour against England at Twickenham which is scheduled for next week Saturday.

Kolisi praised his team’s efforts against Italy but insists they need to find the right balance in order to remain consistent.

“I’m pleased with the way we prepared for the match,” said Kolisi.

“We showed Italy the respect that 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.”

Kolisi added: “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. 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.”

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