The Wallabies have turned in a horror first Test under coach Eddie Jones, falling 43-12 to South Africa to continue their 60-year drought in Pretoria.
The Australians arrived at Loftus Versfeld, where they have never tasted victory, looking to usher in a winning era under Jones in his second stint as Wallabies coach.
But their plans of opening the Rugby Championship with a victory on Saturday were left in tatters with few Wallabies boosting their World Cup stocks.
"We were outplayed everywhere, beaten in every department," Jones conceded.
"Really disappointing but no excuses. We got a realistic appraisal of where we are as a team."
Co-captain James Slipper described it as a "tough start", the veteran prop lamenting his team's discipline, incurring 11 penalties and two penalty tries, which saw hooker Dave Porecki and winger Suliasi Vunivalu both given yellow cards.
"Discipline, playing at the right end of the field ... it's a tough start, but we've got a long year ahead of us so we'll keep working hard," Slipper said.
They started with a bang, as star winger Marika Koroibete barrelled across the line in the seventh minute before the home side piled on 41 unanswered points.
Debutant five-eighth Carter Gordon scored in the final minute, putting his hand up to replace Quade Cooper in the No.10 jersey next week against Argentina.
But the Australians' defence was in disarray throughout, making more than double the amount of tackles with the burly Boks winning the collisions to control possession and territory.
The Wallabies also looked clueless in attack, with Cooper failing to put his stamp on the game and their opponents under any pressure.
They repeatedly played into South Africa's hands by kicking away possession while handling errors cruelled many an attacking raid.
They only managed to spend 0.47 seconds in the opposition 22 in three visits compared to the home side's 15.
Lightning winger Kurt-Lee Arendse bagged a hat-trick for South Africa, exposing Vunivalu who had a shocker in his first Test start.
Arendse scored twice in the opening 40 minutes as his team surged to a 17-5 halftime lead and added a third in the 50th minute.
Reece Hodge's radar was off target, with the inside centre missing all three first-half attempts including a late 66m effort which fell short and he was replaced by Samu Kerevi early in the second stanza.
A number of Springboks stars missed the match to head to New Zealand to prepare for the All Blacks, but they showed their depth across the park.
Jones rang the changes but his replacements were unable to make an impact on the world champions, who were cheered on by more than 50,000 in the stands.
"There is a game next week (against Argentina in Sydney) and we will be better. It is a bad day at the office and we have to front up and play better than that," said Jones.
