Smit: 'Can't get any worse'

South Africa's performance could not get any worse according to the world champions' skipper John Smit after Saturday's 8-19 loss to the All Blacks in the Tri Nations opener in Wellington.

"That's as poor as we could play in the Tri Nations, we certainly can only get better from here," he said after the game.

Smit was waiting to see what a scan of his injured groin reveals to know whether he will be able to take part in next weekend's second Test in Dunedin.

The side had come to New Zealand very purposeful in its belief that it could record its first win in 10 years and it still had a chance to do that next week.

"We certainly didn't deserve to win tonight," he said.

Areas of improvement would be cleaning up the tackle area and the side left what he described as 'a little too much area' for the All Blacks to kick the ball into. He also felt the side's scrummaging could improve and said tighthead prop CJ van der Linde had been suffering badly from a cold during the day leading up to the game and had done well to last as long as he had.

"We have to be a bit more patient and composed."

"We've still got a lot more work to do," he added.

Coach Peter de Villiers who went through the first real trial of his time as coach of the side said the South Africans didn't adjust to what was being blown by referee Stuart Dickinson on the field.

He said the side didn't read situations well and one of the areas he will be looking to improve before the second Test is the kicking game.

"We played a bit on the back foot. We didn't look after the ball and put phases together," he said.

Star lock Victor Matfield said South Africa would be looking to put more pressure on the All Blacks in the lineout next weekend. And with his first experience of the ELVs he said he felt it would be two or three games before he was as sharp as he would like to be.