The Fort Worth Press - Erasmus sizes up 'improved' Wallabies ahead of 2027 World Cup

The shorthanded World Cup champions were upset 42-38 by the Wallabies on Sunday in Perth, with Erasmus's decision to rest a slew of first-choice players seemingly backfiring.

South Africa were completely outplayed for most of the one-off Test by a rejuvenated Wallabies, who are on a five-match unbeaten streak under new coach Les Kiss.

The match was played amid a febrile atmosphere with a near-capacity crowd at the 60,000-seat Optus Stadium, which will open the 2027 World Cup in almost exactly one year.

The Springboks hope to be the first side to win three straight World Cup titles and could at some stage face the Wallabies, who are building momentum after a long period in the wilderness.

"Australia is a good team, they definitely have improved since Les has been there," Erasmus said after South Africa lost for just the second time against Australia in the past seven matches between the teams.

"They're the World Cup host. We might strike them in a vital playoff game and it's nice to have a taste of them.

"So I'm not going to say lessons learned, but I think it was a valuable experience for us what happened tonight."

South Africa almost snatched a remarkable victory after the Wallabies were reduced to 11 players due to a flurry of yellow cards.

But the visitors were left to rue a patchy performance that saw them trail by 25 points midway through the second half.

"We rolled the dice a little bit and some guys haven't played a lot together in a long time," Erasmus said.

"It's not an excuse. We picked the team and we had a game plan, but didn't trump them at the end."

The long journey to Western Australia ended a gruelling travel schedule for the Springboks, who were coming off a 3-1 series victory over arch-rivals New Zealand.

The series, dubbed 'Rugby's Greatest Rivalry', wrapped up on September 12 in Baltimore, leading to Erasmus making 13 changes to the Springboks' starting line-up.

"We learned a lot about our players and about tight situations," Erasmus said.

"We enjoy each other's company and we've been together a lot for eight-nine years.

"We didn't win, not because we've been too long (on the road), but because we didn't play well enough."

T.Dixon--TFWP