THE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP Australia v South Africa:WHEN YOUR national team is ranked second in the world and are going into a Test looking to extend a winning streak over a strong rival to five games, talk in most countries would not be of crisis. Australia is not most countries.

On the back of successive losses to New Zealand, defeat to South Africa in the Rugby Championship in Perth would officially mark Australia’s decline as they would slip below the Springboks into third place in the world rankings on Monday.

It was as much the manner of the successive defeats to the All Blacks that upset rugby fans in Australia with the Wallabies mustering just one try over the two tests, and that from lock Nathan Sharpe.

Prop Ben Alexander said the players took responsibility for the defeat in Auckland – the first time Australia had been held scoreless by New Zealand for half a century – and backed themselves to put it right. “We got stood up by the best side in the world and we’ve copped that on the chin and we’ve looked back and they exposed us everywhere,” he said. “Now we get a chance to right those wrongs.”

AUSTRALIA: K Beale; D Shipperley, A Ashley-Cooper, B Barnes, D Ioane; Q Cooper, W Genia (capt); B Robinson, T Polota Nau, B Alexander; S Timani, N Sharpe; D Dennis, M Hooper, R Samo.

SOUTH AFRICA: Z Kirchner; B Habana, J de Villiers, F Steyn, F Hougaard; M Steyn, R Pienaar; T Mtawarira, A Strauss, J du Plessis; E Etzebeth; J Kruger; M Coetzee, W Alberts, D Vermeulen.