Paton, the stand-in captain after regular skipper Austin Smith fell ill, led his side to a 5-0 victory over Wales and a 6-5 defeat of Scotland in the Celtic Cup in Lisburn, Northern Ireland at the weekend.

"To score the five goals and keep a clean sheet [against Wales] was awesome for us," Paton said on Saturday.

"The guys are slowly hitting their straps."

The South Africans had lost to hosts Ireland in the tournament opener on Thursday.

Paton admitted the team would have to improve on their first outing, particularly at the Olympics, where losing the first game of the tournament would mean a difficult road to the knockout stages.

"If yesterday [Friday] had been our first game of the Olympics, it would have been Australia, and you can't defend the way we did against Ireland, against them," Paton said.

"You have to take your chances, which is exactly what happened against the Irish.

"We'll put it down to not having played too much hockey [in the last two months] and by the time the Games start we know we will be better."

South Africa will now travel to Dublin, Ireland, where they face Belgium tomorrow.