Though they ran out winners by 17 points, skipper Eben Etzebeth said his Springbok side had to fight hard to overcome Scotland in their Test match at Murrayfield on Sunday.
The Springboks held a slender lead at 19-15 up heading into the last quarter of the clash, before a couple late scores sealed the contest with the visitors running out 32-15 winners.
Etzebeth, who captained the side as regular skipper Siya Kolisi came on as a replacement in the second half, said they expected a physical encounter and they were proved right by their hosts.
South Africa scored four tries, while Scotland could only manage five penalties as they were unable to breach the Springbok tryline.
‘They’re one of the top teams in the world’
“It was a good battle. It was a good Test match,” said Etzebeth.
“We knew they are a quality side. We always, when we prepare for Scotland, we prepare like would for New Zealand or Ireland. Of course, they're one of the top teams in the world.”
Etzebeth went on to say they also knew it was going to be a grind against a physical Scotland team. He also echoed the sentiments of coach Rassie Erasmus, hinting the Springboks will need to be better against England in less than a week.
“Compliments to them. I think they were great today. I think we probably weren't at our best, but we showed quality in the end to make the scoreboard like that.
“We obviously set our standards for ourselves. We drive within the team, the players and the management.
“We want to keep on performing and we know every now and then there's going to be a performance that we're not probably that proud of.”
The towering lock also conceded the final scoreline was a tad flattering.
“It was a good performance because we beat them by that margin.
“But there's just some aspects of the game that we probably won't be happy with and that we'll work on. And I'm sure the coaches will point that out to us and there will be some harsh words, but there will also be some good words.
“And I think that you need that in a professional team environment too. We always strive to be better.”