Updated rankings after Springboks lose to Wallabies
· The South African
The Springboks have lost a couple of rankings points, but still remain in the No 1 spot, after falling to defeat against Australia in Perth on Sunday.
After wrapping up an impressive 3-1 series win over the All Blacks, the Springboks will be frustrated to have seen a second-string side fail to meet expectations against the Wallabies.
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The hosts entered the break leading 24-17 and extended that to 42-17 after 65 minutes, and although the Springboks managed to claw their way back into the match, taking the game down to the wire, it wasn’t enough to prevent an eventual 42-38 defeat.
As a result, the Springboks have lost two full rankings points, and now only have a 1.94 lead over the All Blacks.
HERE IS HOW THE RANKINGS LOOK AFTER THE SPRINGBOKS’ DEFEAT
RankCountryPoints1South Africa93.092New Zealand91.153Ireland88.084France87.435England85.686Scotland84.787Australia83.558Argentina82.249Fiji78.0010Wales76.3811Italy76.3012Japan76.0913Georgia73.9414USA69.4915Portugal69.3916Chile66.9417Spain66.8318Uruguay65.7519Tonga65.1420Samoa64.73NO EXCUSES
After the game, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus admitted the result was ultimately a fair outcome.
“For us, we lost in a Springbok jersey against Australia, and with all the disruptions, we have nobody else to blame but ourselves for the result,” said Erasmus.
“I know the technology failed a bit, the clock kept running and didn’t stop at times for example, but that didn’t influence how we played. We controlled that. We didn’t play well enough tonight to beat a stronger team.”
The Bok coach added: “When you’re 25 points behind, there’s nobody else to blame but yourself. We rolled the dice a bit, and some guys haven’t played a lot together in a long time, but it’s not an excuse.
“We picked the team, and we had a game plan, and I thought we had a chance at the end, but the better team won on the night. It’s sad to lose, but it’s not because we’ve been together too long. It’s because we didn’t play well enough.”