Siya Kolisi praises Springboks fight and preparedness for any situation

Lock Franco Mostert was deemed to have made a dangerous tackle after making contact with an Italian player's head with his shoulder and was shown a permanent red card.

It was the second such occasion in consecutive weeks that the Boks have had to adapt to being a player down after Lood de Jager suffered a similar fate against France in Paris.

South Africa went on to win both games and Kolisi praised his teammates' ability to adapt and deal with anything that is thrown at them.

"We went through it last weekend, and this week we went through the same thing. So, we make plans in the game as we go along because such things happen," he said.

"The biggest thing that we were asked this week is to show our 'Africanness' and that's about making plans because there are always stumbles, and that's what I am grateful for with our coaching staff.

"They are always prepared for any scenario, and even the guys who are not playing sit and make plans and decisions, they always buy in."

Kolisi added: "It doesn't make it easy for us. We can talk about sacrifices, but seeing a guy like Franco sitting there, we could see the hurt in his eyes.

"That said, I really love the way this team is just able to stand up and fight. We always say whatever happens between those four lines, we can still go as hard as we can and control what we can."

Head coach Rassie Erasmus cut a frustrated figure in the post-match interviews but stopped short of being openly critical of the officiating.