'Really awful' South Africa eager to avoid ranking freefall in Australia rematch as Edinburgh man keeps place

The Wallabies pulled off one of the shock results of the modern age when they defeated South Africa 38-22 at Ellis Park last weekend.

It was Australia’s first win in Johannesburg for 62 years and Rassie Erasmus admitted he was embarrassed to appear at the post-match press conference. His South Africa side had led 22-0 only to then concede six unanswered tries in an extraordinary collapse.

“We were really awful, and they were very good, but we made them better,” Erasmus said.

The result knocked the Boks off the top of the World Rugby rankings, allowing New Zealand to return to the summit for the first time since November 2021 after they beat Argentina in the other Rugby Championship fixture of the opening weekend.

They’ll try to punch you in the face

South Africa dropped below Ireland to third place as a result of the Ellis Park defeat and they will sink even lower if Australia are somehow able to replicate their week one result in Cape Town. A second defeat by more than 15 points would see the Springboks crash from first to sixth in the space of a fortnight, one shy of their lowest-ever position of seventh which they last occupied in 2018.

Will Skelton, the Wallabies lock, expects the wounded Boks to come out swinging.

“They're going to try and punch you in the face this week,” he said. “So we’re going to have to be ready, have a good week of preparation again and really fight until the end.”

Edinburgh prop keeps his place as Erasmus swings axe

Erasmus has swung the axe. He made 10 changes when he named his starting XV on Tuesday but had to bring full-back Aphelele Fassi back into the side on Friday after Willie le Roux picked up a knock in training. Four South African players had already been ruled out of contention due to injury: captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Edwill van der Merwe. In Kolisi’s absence Jesse Kriel will lead the side for only the second time in a Test, and there are returns for Cheslin Kolbe and Damian de Allende.

Boan Venter, the Edinburgh loosehead prop, retains his place on the bench and is in line to win his third cap for South Africa.

Australia have also been hit by injuries and are without skipper Harry Wilson, try-scorer Dylan Pietsch and prop James Slipper. Fraser McReight, the Brumbies flanker, will captain the Wallabies for the first time and the timely return of Rob Valetini offsets the loss of Wilson in the back row. Pietsch is replaced by Corey Toole, widely hailed as the fastest man in Australian rugby.

Rankings implications for Scotland

One of the most fascinating duels will be in the midfield where Kriel welcomes back regular inside centre partner de Allende after injury. They will come up against the Australian pair of Len Ikitau and Joseph Suaalii, who excelled in Johannesburg.

Like South Africa, Argentina have an immediate chance of revenge. They host the All Blacks in Buenos Aires looking to atone for last weekend’s 41-24 defeat in Cordoba. Another win for New Zealand would see Scotland climb above Argentina to seventh place in the world rankings.

Both Rugby Championship matches will be screened live on Sky Sports, with South Africa v Australia kicking off at 4.10pm BST and Argentina v New Zealand at 10.10pm BST.