Eddie Jones has lamented a disappointing start to his Wallabies return after a comprehensive defeat to the Springboks.
The visitors were outplayed across the park as South Africa produced a dominant 43-12 win in Pretoria.
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It was built off the back of a barnstorming outing from Jacques Nienaber's pack, constantly winning the contact battle and dominating the set-piece.
“We got beaten to the punch everywhere,” Jones reflected to Stan Sport after the match.
“We got beaten in the set piece, at the gain line and in the air. If you don’t win any of those contests, it’s going to be a long day in the office which it was.”
“There wasn’t too many positives today but we went out there to play with a bit more pace and we did in the first 20 minutes but we weren’t able to convert any of the pressure. We put the Springboks into points and of course, they came back and every opportunity they got they converted into points.”
“Disappointed. It’s obviously not the way we wanted to start," prop Allan Alaalatoa added.
“We’ve got a new team and coaching staff and we’re probably still learning about how connections and combinations and we got found out tonight.”
Jones pointed to the set-piece battle as the key area where the game was lost as the Springboks imposed themselves at scrum time.
This coupled with an ill-disciplined night in which the Wallabies allow two penalty tries left Jones searching for improvements ahead of next week's clash with Argentina.
“Once they’re on top and they’ve got their big ball runners, there’s no better team than South Africa when they have that edge to play on top of you," Jones said.
“There were possibly more opportunities to be dominant in the lineout and we didn’t take advantage of it. The scrum is a continual work on and we have to find ways to get over the gain line.
“If we fix those against Argentina, we’ll be back in the money.”
Jones praised outside back duo Marika Koroibete and Carter Gordon, who combined nicely for a try after the siren.
Koroibete got the Wallabies off to a perfect start with a try in the seventh minute whilst Gordon stepped up to Test level on debut with several quality involvements.
“I thought Marika was absolutely outstanding and Carter (Gordon) coming on in his first Test in a difficult situation showed he’s going to be a player of the future," Jones added.
