Defiant Coetzee insists the shambolic defeat to the All Blacks does not define the Boks

Springbok coach Allister Coetzee says his charges should not be judged on their shambolic performance against the All Blacks in Albany 10 days ago.

In their last Rugby Championship outing against New Zealand at the North Harbour Stadium on September 16‚ the Springboks where on the receiving end of a 57-0 drubbing‚ their worst defeat in their 126-year test history and the second time in consecutive matches the All Blacks put 50 past the Springboks.

The Springboks have a tough task of getting over their record mauling through their clash with the Wallabies at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

In the lead-up to the Albany hammering‚ the Boks were unbeaten in six matches but were unable to complete the magnificent seven.

“I want to say it upfront that the Albany game doesn't define this team‚" Coetzee said.

"It was one game where we were definitely poor.

"We were poor in terms of execution and I'll never sweep that under the carpet.

"The players already know it was sub-standard but again‚ we won five out of seven matches and in those wins‚ we were outstanding.”

“The All Blacks were really good and they showed why they were the number one team in the world.

"On the night they were unbelievable and it worked out for them.

"We needed the perfect storm and the ball bounced perfectly for them on the night.

"We said we don't want to hang ourselves against the All Blacks.

"When you make mistakes and unforced errors against the All Blacks‚ you get punished. We will learn from the experience.”

Despite the bruising‚ the Springboks have a clean bill of health for Saturday with only the players who missed the test‚ except for Ross Cronje‚ still unavailable.

The Lions scrumhalf missed the mauling because of a stomach bug.

Coenie Oosthuizen and Jaco Kriel were the two players who cried off with injuries in the 23-all draw against

Australia in Perth on September 9 and will remain unavailable for the last two Rugby Championship engagements.

Coetzee‚ though‚ made a serious statement by drafting in Sharks players Louis Schreuder and S'busiso Nkosi while dropping experienced utility back Francois Hougaard.

Coetzee said Hougaard's technical deficiencies at scrumhalf were exposed and need working on while Lions wing Ruan Combrinck needs to work on his all-round game.

“What I’ve looked at from the start of the year is players showing good form‚ which was a big part of the selection criteria.

"At this point in time after Super Rugby‚ Ruan hasn’t played a lot of rugby for the Lions and he hasn’t started much.

"It makes it difficult and I burned my fingers last year when we had players coming in from France.

"We spoke a lot about their conditioning and fitness levels‚” Coetzee said.

“Francois is a fantastic rugby player but there has been a bit of an issue in terms of continuity of playing regularly at No 9.

"That hasn’t helped his technical ability to be a great scrumhalf at Test level.

"That’s unfortunately the case and it hasn’t gone well.

"It’s obviously really important for our No 9s to function well but I just think technically at this level it has been a struggle for him really." - TimesLIVE