Walloped by the world champions in one Test and beaten by their B-team in the other, Australia turn for the second leg of the Rugby Championship with plenty to puzzle on. First and foremost is how to score tries. In 160 minutes against the Springboks, the Wallabies scored one – a 75th-minute consolation try against 13 men in Brisbane that consoled no one.
Yes, they were up against South Africa, for 43 weeks the planet’s No 1 rugby side and back-to-back World Cup winners, a team with three times the experience and twice the confidence. But Rassie Erasmus’s side were also world champions when Australia defeated them three times in succession between September 2021 and August 2022.
