South Africa v Wales: Wayne Pivac aims to banish Italy demons against Springboks

Wales coach Wayne Pivac admits he has waited a long time to try to put things right.

When Wales run out to face South Africa in the first Test in Pretoria on 2 July, 15 weeks will have passed since the humiliating Six Nations home defeat to Italy.

"We've got to be a lot better than our last game," said Pivac.

"We were embarrassed by that last performance, there's no hiding from that

"The players and management have spoken about it, and we are a better team than that.

"This game has been a long time coming. Everybody in our camp would feel the same way.

"Nobody likes finishing on a sour note with a poor performance. It's a long time between drinks as they say.

"For us it is about making sure we reflect on that time wisely."

Such is the nature of international rugby that Pivac has been left to dwell for some time on the Italy loss.

And now comes the small matter of facing the world champions in a three-Test series on their home soil in front of full crowds, with the first two internationals at altitude.

"We need to go out and show that improvement in the first Test while also backing it up with strong performances in the second, and third," added Pivac.

"That's certainly what we are going to try to achieve.

"We are looking at the positives that came out of the last tournament, and working with those.

"We have areas of the game where we have to tidy up, and make sure we don't make similar mistakes to the ones we made, particularly in the Italy match.

"We need to be a lot better than the opening match against Ireland. With the opening match against South Africa at altitude, we are making sure we are working as hard as we can to put the best performance in first match up.

"[That is] from a mental point of view as well, where we apply ourselves. We've got to be strong mentally to go to South Africa over three Test matches.

"We need to make sure that we give ourselves every opportunity.

"It's not just a physical game we've got to be able to counter - it's also a mental game. We need to make sure we are up to that challenge."

Wales can reflect on just four wins - over Canada, Fiji, Australia and Scotland - in the last 12 months.

They have lost all 10 previous internationals against the Springboks on South African soil, which underlines how big a task lies ahead.

"History says we haven't done well there, clearly," said Pivac.

"In some camps they'd say you've got everything to gain and nothing to lose. From our point of view we take every Test match seriously.

"The last one we played we got wrong, and we need to make sure we do everything we can to get this one right.

"We'll be going out there not with a careless attitude, we'll be doing what we think we need to do to try to win the first Test, and then set ourselves up for a great series."