Five heaviest Springbok defeats

Allister Coetzee’s charges feature twice in the Springboks’ Hall of Shame. JON CARDINELLI reports.

5. Boks 52 All Blacks 16, Pretoria, 2003
Rudolf Straeuli’s team copped a record hiding at the hands of the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld, a traditional stronghold of South African rugby. The All Blacks didn’t have the biggest lead at half-time (22-9) and were forced to play with 14 men when prop Kees Meeuws was shown a yellow card. Yet they still managed to run in seven tries. This record for victory by the largest margin on South African soil stood for 13 years until Steve Hansen’s side broke it in 2016.

4. Boks 15 All Blacks 57, Durban, 2016
The Boks trailed the All Blacks by just three points at half-time. In the final 30 minutes, however, the All Blacks shifted gear and outscored the Boks by 40 points to three. Allister Coetzee’s charges were completely outclassed in the latter stages and the coach himself later described the result as ‘South African rugby’s darkest day’. The Boks suffered their heaviest defeat on home soil and also conceded a record nine tries.

3. Australia 49 Boks 0, Brisbane, 2006
The Wallabies scored six tries as they stormed to a record win over the Boks. Jake White’s side leaked 30 points in the first half alone. While they turned in an improved performance in the second stanza, they failed to register a single point of their own.

2. England 53 Boks 3, London, 2002
Straeuli’s tenure as Bok coach will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The 50-point defeat to England at Twickenham will certainly be remembered as the nadir of the on-field nightmare. Lock Jannes Labuschagne was sent off for a late and dangerous shoulder charge on England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson. The Boks were forced to compete with 14 men for the remaining 57 minutes.

1. All Blacks 57 Boks 0, Albany, 2017
Coetzee’s Boks were consistently poor across the 80 minutes, conceding 31 points and four tries in the first half and then 26 points and four tries in the second. The result marked the Boks’ heaviest loss in history and only the fifth time South Africa had conceded 50 or more points in 471 Tests. Coetzee subsequently described the performance as ‘a horror movie’.