After 20 months without a Test match, it's understandable that the Springboks took a little time to get up to speed against Georgia on Friday night.
Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids admitted as much when speaking to the media on Sunday as he reflected on South Africa's 40-9 win.
"We must understand that the guys are coming back from not having played a long time," said Davids.
"The level of intensity and physicality is something we had to get used to at the start."
The Springboks struggled initially against a Georgia side that played with enormous physicality and who were leading 9-5 in the 35th minute.
Two quick Springbok tries before half-time, however, helped to turn things around and Davids was happy with how the home side increased their intensity after half-time.
“"You could see the longer the game went on the better we got," Davids said.
"Obviously, we also spoke about it at half-time and the players responded immediately. They are experienced and understand what it's about.
"I think we got more into our stride and became more physical and stuck to the things that the players knew they had to do in order to get better."
Davids was also full of praise for Georgia and the challenge they presented to the Boks.
"We must take our hats off to Georgia with the intent they brought to the game and the challenge they brought to our set pieces," he said.
The two teams will clash again in the second Test at Ellis Park on Friday evening.