They strutted in but staggered out. With an unbeaten record under new coach Joe Schmidt and a formidable history at Fortress Suncorp, Australia was quietly confident of flexing its newfound muscle in a clash with the world champion South Africans. But the near-complete 33-7 annihilation by the Springboks will leave serious scars for the Wallabies.
Impotent in attack, dismantled in defence and embarrassed at set-piece, the Wallabies got a painful lesson in rugby basics from Rassie Erasmus’s Springboks and looked every inch the No 9-ranked contender against rugby’s heavyweight champs. Worst of all, the scoreline flattered neither side, with South Africa far from their clinical best.
