Awful in Adelaide: Woeful Springboks collapse to defeat against superior Wallabies ... again

Nic White will take the Oscar for the "best male performance" but the Springboks will be as embarrassed by their display in the 25-17 loss to the Wallabies at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

The Springboks started poorly and finished poorly. The middle overs, where they had some momentum were wasted by inadequate offense, miles off the standard you’d expect from World Cup holders.

They capitulated in a fashion not too dissimilar to the 30-17 mental collapse in Brisbane last year when Australia ran in four tries on them.

AS IT HAPPENED | Australia vs South Africa

Things were meant to be different for Jacques Nienaber’s men this year, they had supposedly learnt lessons from their twin defeats at Robina and Suncorp Stadium but nothing showed that they had.

The Springboks went into the game, according to captain Siya Kolisi, with the intention to “try a few things”, deploying the 5-3 bench split instead of detonating the bomb squad 6-2.

But neither game plan was evident at the cricket ground, especially in the first 40 minutes. The running game was scattergun and the kicking brain-less.

The Boks hadn’t touched the ball bar the knock-on from kick-off by Damian Willemse that ceded possession and the Wallabies ran through the phases for loose-forward Fraser McReight to score a try near the sticks.

It wasn’t the start the Springboks had wished for. It was the Wallabies who showed the better intent as the visiting defence’s fragilities mirrored Ellis Park against the All Blacks a fortnight ago.

They conceded soft penalties that not only gave Noah Lolesio goal-kicking shots but Australia precious territory that they would have lapped up if you offered it to them pre-game.

After conceding 10 points within 10 minutes, the Boks got into the