JOHANNESBURG :Rassie Erasmus pulled no punches as he laid into his South Africa side following their second half capitulation in the stunning 38-22 loss to Australia in their Rugby Championship opener at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Springboks were cruising as they led 22-0 inside the first quarter, but while Australia grew into the game and began to win the individual contests, the home side wilted in the second half as the visitors scored 38 unanswered points.

"I can try to butter it up and bottle it up to sound cool and respectful. The effort was maybe there but the accuracy or precision wasn’t," Erasmus told reporters.

"It was a bad loss in a bad way. Not against a bad team, we just didn’t have fight right until the end, and that’s not what we want to give South Africa.

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