John Smit insists South Africa are still "a long way off" the team they want to be as they prepare for their final home Test of the season against Australia in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

A run of four straight defeats - three to New Zealand and one to the Wallabies - had seen the knives come out for Smit and his team.

The sequence was ended last week with a 44-31 triumph over the Australians in Pretoria and the Springbok captain is determined to use that as a stepping stone to improve.

"We will certainly use that to build on," said Smit.

"It's a long way off from where we need to be but at least there's a win under our belts.

"If we think we have turned the corner we (now) need to be able to open up on the straight and that will only be evident if we can follow through on that tomorrow (Saturday).

"Since our return from overseas we have been concentrating on what we can control, which is our game - our set pieces, what we do in general play, how we kick and whether we kick to give it away or to get it back.

"When you have a bad run of results you have to go back and touch on your basics and get them back to where they belong."

New Zealand wrapped up the Tri-Nations title two weeks ago meaning both South Africa and the Wallabies are playing for the pride of second place as well as the Nelson Mandela Shield.

Despite this De Villiers resisted calls to rest his senior players for the game and Smit sympathises with him.

He continued: "It's always tricky deciding when to rest players and it's very difficult to rest a whole group of players.

"It's something you need to do on an individual basis."

There are also reports that some of the older heads may be rested for the year-end Grand Slam tour to Europe, but Smit said: "The fact that it is a Grand Slam tour does complicate matters. You're not going to give that up easily.

"But we'll do some planning in the next couple of weeks, plotting our road to the World Cup."

He did, however, add that leaving three players or so at home will not necessarily weaken the side for the matches against Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England - a tour which does not come about too often. The last Bok Grand Slam tour was in 2004 under Jake White.

The Springboks will be allowed a four-week break after Saturday's Test where fitness will remain a priority. They will not be in a national training camp but will do their reconditioning with their different unions.

The Boks will, however, not be allowed to take part in the Currie Cup competition except for the last round and the play-offs.

All the Boks are expected to be released for those three weeks from October 9 (last round), October 16 (semi-finals) and October 30(final).

As for Saturday's game, Smit added: "There is always something to play for.

"Every Test match has massive prestige so to have one where we can possibly at least end second and win the Mandela Plate is important.

"We expect Australia to come out hard and would be naive to think they are not going to want to build on their first 20 to 30 minutes of that first Test.

"They have made a few changes and they will want the changes to aid them in being able to get a victory in Bloemfontein.

"We certainly expect them to be coming out even harder this weekend."