So how good is this Australian team? It is hard to say with certainty because of the state of their opposition, but it now renders the upcoming weekends test in Melbourne as hugely significant.
THE Springboks three match tour has been an unmitigated disaster.
From the moment they strolled, all smiles and confidence, into Auckland just five days out from their opening match against the All Blacks, to the departure of their homeward flight, they have hardly got a single thing right.
They leave empty handed, 0 for 3, with a negative points differential approaching 100. Three of their players are under suspension, time appears to be catching up with one or two others, and the credibility of their coach is up for question. Some massive cracks have appeared in what was, a year ago, being hailed as far and away the best team in the world.
It is too early to write them off, especially with the champion Fourie du Preez to return next year, along with a clutch of others, but what was not so long ago looking a smooth flight is now in a bit of a tail spin.
They were always going to be up against it in the test in Brisbane. Three tests on successive weekends is a lot to ask, and the after effects of two thumping encounters with the All Blacks as well as other distractions, probably had the Boks on the back foot before the match at Suncorp even started.
Australia was very good, better than we thought they’d be, but the Springboks were poor.
The Wallabies set out to run them off their feet, and did a nice job of it, and might have won by more had they not squandered three of four clear cut chances either with poor decision making, passing and catching.
They were efficient at set piece against a subdued Springbok pack, dominated the breakdown with ridiculous ease and showed enough to suggest that the All Black backline defence is in for its biggest challenge this year in Melbourne.
But the Wallabies got no end of help from the South Africans, who again showed lamentable indiscipline, while their lack of fight, or willingness to contest the breakdown was a sorry indictment of their game strategy.
Last week their coach, in one of many ridiculous outbursts, flagged his intention to cheat at the breakdown because that was what everyone else was supposedly doing.
Well, when they did cheat they did so with an almost comical lack of subtlety, most notably when the hapless BJ Botha got himself sin-binned. It was, to be fair, another fairly heavy handed piece of refereeing against the Boks, but as long as their coach and president are so vocal in their criticism they cannot expect favours.
It was quite a shock to see, for the most part, the Boks simply allowing the Wallabies to recycle the ball...the result was almost a throwback to the Rod McQueen days of phase after phase after phase.
Too often the irrepressible Schalk Burger was left to fight a lone battle at the breakdown, underlining the folly of selecting two ball carrying number 8s in their loose forward trio.
But the most telling of all statistics in this game was that Australia took the ball into 105 tackles/rucks, and recycled it all but one of those times. They were good, but they met little resistance.
So the Boks will go home to contemplate a myriad of issues, most alarmingly the ineffective play of their senior forwards, the fact that they could not get the front foot with any consistency in any of the tests, and the lack of innovation or accuracy in their backs. They must also consider whether their captain has too many miles on the clock and whether his famous leadership qualities are sufficient reason to keep him in the team.
God only knows what the coach will come up with to rectify things, but it is time he started to get real, stopped throwing ridiculous barbs at everyone else and faced the fact that under his stewardship a hitherto great team is in danger of turning from champs to chumps.
So how good is this Australian team? It is hard to say with certainty because of the state of their opposition, but it now renders the upcoming weekends test in Melbourne as hugely significant.
If the All Blacks win, I can’t see them being pipped for the title.
Their chances have been helped by the suspension of Aussie playmaker Quade Cooper, who whilst being a liability on defence and prone to whistling solo on attack, has a mercurial brilliance about him capable of turning a game on its head.
Their forwards hold the key, because if they can retain possession with the consistency they did against South Africa there will be chances for their talented backline, and especially their brilliant halfback Will Genia.
But if the All Blacks can repeat the intensity of their first two tests, emulate their defensive effort and just turn a few more chances into points, they will be another step closer to regaining the title.