The need to right the ship and get their Rugby Championship campaign back on course has stirred the Springboks ahead of their clash against the Wallabies at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Another home defeat against Australia is almost too ghastly to contemplate as it will effectively put paid to the Boks' ambitions in the tournament.
Stand-in captain Jesse Kriel, on the eve of the match, left no-one in doubt his team will be better than they were last weekend.
“Everyone itching to get onto the field,” reassured Kriel who will wear the leader's armband in the absence of the injured Siya Kolisi.
The Boks are tugging at the leash ready to right the considerable wrongs from last week when they crashed to a 38-22 defeat at Ellis Park.
It wasn't so much the defeat as the manner it which they suffered it, that jolted the back-to-back Rugby World Cup holders.
Kriel, however, needs no second invitation to roll up his sleeves for the task at hand.
“I think we have rectified things as a team. We had to align,” said the outside centre after the Boks drifted from script last weekend.
They tried to run the Wallabies off their feet but they were stung as their high error rate allowed the visitors to maximise the opportunities they were presented.
The Boks were beaten to the punch at the ruck and their line-out was less than assured.
Kriel does not seem overly concerned that the Boks have taken their revision to heart.
“You can't lose sight of the fact it is just one game,” he said about the defeat.
“The great thing in our sport is you get another chance the following week.”
He has after all, tasted success over the Wallabies in Cape Town before.
The Boks have not played the Wallabies in Cape Town since 2014 when they ran out 28-10 victors.
Only three members of the Bok team that played that day are in the match-day squad for Saturday.
Willie le Roux would have been the fourth but he has had to withdraw due to a stiff groin.
Kriel, lock Eben Etzebeth, flyhalf Handré Pollard and debutant on that day scrumhalf Cobus Reinach are still part of the Bok furniture 11 years on.
To get the job done, however, they cannot bank on memory.
There is little doubt the Boks need to be tighter and less liberal in their passing game on Saturday.
The introduction of Pollard at flyhalf indicates a more direct, if not pragmatic approach in conditions which are expected to be wet and blustery.
The return of Damian de Allende, which will extend his record midfield association with Kriel to 38 Tests, will also give the Boks straight line traction.
Not that André Esterhuizen fell short by that yardstick last weekend.
Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick believes the Boks' battle plan will withstand an all-weather Test.
The Boks' kicking game will have to be on point but Stick also pointed to the need for precise game management.
Le Roux would have been a valuable asset to the Boks' kicking game but both Stick and Kriel gave the centurion's replacement Aphelele Fassi the thumbs-up.
The Wallabies too have been forced into change because of injury.
Though coach Joe Schmidt is desperate to build even greater cohesion through consistency in selection he has had to hand the captaincy armband to Fraser McReight in the absence of the injured Harry Wilson.
Schmidt believes McReight will lead by example.
Props Allan Alaalatoa and James Slipper, who have captained the Wallabies over the past year are also unavailable through injury.
The focus for the Boks this week however has been on themselves.
“We've got high standards in what we want to achieve. It's not nice not to start well,” said Stick about the opening round loss.
Though the assistant coach declared himself happy with how the week went, the pressure to deliver a performance worthy of their RWC champion status is constant.
“There is pressure every week,” reminded Kriel.
Stick, however, gave a real sense of the loss they suffered last week.
“We felt pressure straight after the game. It felt like a funeral. The place went quiet. We wanted to do it for people and we felt it.”
Teams
South Africa — Aphelele Fassi, Canan Moodie, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe, Handré Pollard, Grant Williams, Jean-Luc du Preez, Franco Mostert, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, RG Snyman, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche
Substitutes: Marnus van der Merwe, Boan Venter, Wilco Louw, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Wallabies — Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Akuso Suaalii, Len Iketau, Corey Toole; James O’Connor, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Tom Hooper, Will Skelton, Nick Frost, Taniela Tupou, Billy Pollard, Tom Robertson
Substitutes: Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Angus Bell, Zane Nonggorr, Jeremy Williams, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Tate McDermott, Tane Edmed, Andrew Kellaway
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand) Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy) TMO: Richard Kelly (New Zealand)