In June‚ Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus warned against overoptimism after his side beat England 2-1 in a home series.
But even he could not have imagined such a humbling dousing of his team’s progress two months later.
The Boks’ 32-19 loss to Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday exposed their many weaknesses‚ including South Africa’s inability to win away from home, while offering no obvious positives.
Post the 2015 World Cup‚ the Boks have won just three of 15 away games and their next two fixtures are in Brisbane and Wellington, against Australia and the all-conquering New Zealand.
Slow starts in matches have characterised Erasmus’s Bok reign.
While his team were able to overturn heavy early deficits against England in the first and second Tests‚ and also against the Pumas in Durban last week‚ there was no way out of the 27-7 halftime hole they found themselves in Mendoza.
Australian referee Angus Gardner may have ignored the Pumas’ continual offside infringements‚ and he may have been casual in his handling of the breakdown‚ but the Boks failed to adapt to the official and to Argentina’s ferocity.
It is as if foreign fields are some sort of kryptonite for the Springboks.
“We had so many opportunities to score tries in the first 15-20 minutes. We just didn’t capitalise on that,” Erasmus lamented.
“We played like a team that’s playing club rugby.
“I must point the finger at myself. When you play like this‚ the coach did something badly wrong during the week.”
Erasmus told all who wanted to listen in June that the Boks were learning and growing and would suffer setbacks along the way.
After Saturday, he said: “I don’t want to say we learn‚ we learn‚ we learn. We had a terrible performance‚ it was unacceptable. We can’t perform like that in a Springbok jersey.”
The Boks face Australia in Brisbane next and Erasmus has no more credit left in the bank.
He has to shelve extreme experimentation and look to find his best team and stick to it for the rest of the Rugby Championship.