South Africa were convincingly beaten by Australia in the opening Tri-Nations Test, losing 20-39 in Sydney on Saturday.

The scoreline flatters a Springbok team that looked every bot the B-Team tag that was bestowed on it.

Jan de Koning rates the South African players:

15 Gio Aplon:
He had the occasional run, but found no holes of note.
5/10

14 Bjorn Basson:
Looked threatening with ball in hand ... on the few occasions he received it.
6/10

13 Juan de Jongh:
Tried to step and found a yellow wall. Tried to run and found no space. Looked like he lacked pace.
4/10

12 Wynand Olivier:
Hopefully he played under instructions, because bashing up into a yellow wall of defenders when it looks on outside is not a good thing.
4/10

11 Lwazi Mvovo:
Had a couple of decent runs, but never had enough possession in space.
6/10

10 Morné Steyn:
This has not been his best year.
4/10

9 Ruan Pienaar:
By some way his worst Test ever.
3/10

8 Ashley Johnson:
He looked like a deer in headlights and was a huge liability on defence.
2/10

7 Danie Rossouw:
One of the few players that played with heart.
7/10

6 Deon Stegmann:
Affected a couple of turnovers, one a penalty, and had his moments on defence.
6/10

5 Alistair Hargreaves:
Was badly showed up - appears to lack the ability to step up to Test level.
3/10

4 Flip van der Merwe:
Injured early, battled on for about 20 minutes, but was no factor.
5/10

3 Werner Kruger:
Had his moments in the scrums and the occasional carry.
5/10

2 John Smit (captain):
Looked badly out of sorts. Maybe he needs these games at hooker and to improve his form.
4/10

1 Dean Greyling:
Tried hard, but no real impact.
5/10

Replacements:

16 Chiliboy Ralepelle (on for Dean Greyling, 57th min):
Made an immediate impact and showed he will be Smit successor when the legend moves on after the World Cup.
7/10

17 CJ van der Linde (on for Dean Greyling - 7th and 23rd mins; on for Werner Kruger, 75th min):
Every time he came on the Bok scrum was under pressure.
4/10

18 Ryan Kankowski (on for Flip van der Merwe, 34th min):
Showed he can play with ball in hand, but lacks plenty in the physical exchanges.
5/10

19 Jean Deysel (on for Ashley Johnson, 52nd min):
Carried strongly, but often lacked support.
6/10

20  Charl McLeod:
Not used.

21 Adrian Jacobs (on for Wynand Olivier, 65th min):
Not enough time to be rated.

22 Patrick Lambie (on for Morné Steyn, 57th min):
One of the rare rays of bright light in the Bok backline.
6/10