Kolisi insists 2019 template won't win Boks the World Cup: 'The game is getting faster'

The template that brought the Springboks Rugby World Cup success in Japan in 2019 will not suffice at the 2023 edition in France.

That was the message from national captain Siya Kolisi when he addressed reporters at the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Kolisi, and 13 other frontline Boks, are currently in the Mother City for a three-week "physical and rugby development" camp as they step up preparations for the defence of their world crown later this year.

Kolisi said a strong message from the coaching staff has been for the team to constantly evolve.

He said the players knew that simply doing what they did in 2019 would not reap rewards in 2023.

"We're growing and the nice thing about it is that the coaches have set the standard and said there's no way ways you can do what you did in 2019 and win now.

"The game has changed, the rules are changing the whole time, and the game is getting faster. So, we're working hard on our fitness," Kolisi said.

Kolisi said he was chuffed with the team's discipline in recent Tests, especially given the strict policing of the high tackle law.

"We're one of the teams that's conceded the least number of penalties. And we want to take it down even more.

"[The game] is being played at a much lower level, [and by that] I mean body height. And that's what we're working on. We're big men but you don't get a lot of us making tackles higher than they should be because we've worked so hard on our fundamentals to make sure that, whatever the rule is, we're already doing that."

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The Bok skipper also stressed that the tempo of Test rugby had gone up a notch in recent times.

"Fitness-wise ... we've