Rassie Erasmus suffered his 14th defeat as Springbok head coach after South Africa’s dramatic 42-38 loss to Australia in Perth on Sunday.
The Wallabies held on for a remarkable victory despite being reduced to just 11 players during the closing stages, ending a frantic comeback from the world champions.
The defeat means Erasmus’s record as Springbok head coach now stands at 62 Tests, 47 wins, one draw and 14 defeats.
That gives the 53-year-old a 75.8% win rate in his two spells as head coach.
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Rassie Erasmus remains the record-holder
Erasmus became the most-capped Springbok head coach in history earlier this year, overtaking Jake White’s previous record of 54 Tests.
His overall record includes his first stint in charge in 2018 and 2019, before returning to the head-coach role in 2024.
The intervening period saw Erasmus serve as South Africa’s director of rugby, working alongside Jacques Nienaber.
Australia hands Erasmus another defeat
The Perth loss was South Africa’s second defeat of 2026, after the Springboks had just completed a 3-1 series victory over New Zealand.
Erasmus made 13 changes to the starting team that had defeated the All Blacks in Baltimore, using the Australia Test to give opportunities to a significantly revamped side.
The experiment ultimately did not produce the desired result.
Australia raced into a 42-17 lead after 65 minutes, but four yellow cards left the Wallabies with only 11 players on the field.
The Springboks scored 21 unanswered points in the closing stages, including tries from Morne van den Berg, Ox Nche and a penalty try, but ran out of time.
Erasmus accepted responsibility afterwards, saying the Springboks had “nobody else to blame but ourselves” and that Australia were the better team on the night.
Rassie Erasmus’s updated Springbok coaching record
Meanwhile, in terms of his overall win percentage, Erasmus dropped to fifth place for Springbok coaches behind Kitch Christie (100%: 14 wins from 14 Tests), Cecil Moss (83.3%: 10 wins from 12 Tests), Nelie Smith (80%: 12 wins from 15 Tests) and Ian Kirkpatrick (76.9%: 10 wins from 13 Tests).
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