Wallaby fullback Chris Latham says the Wallaby backs were not blameless in Australia's 32-12 Tri-Nations mauling at the hands of the ruthless All Blacks at the weekend.

Australia can expect another torrid time on Saturday night backing up against a touring South African side which while not as fluently skilled as the All Blacks is bigger and more physical.

Australia's young scrum was comprehensively beaten and its line outs broke down at times against New Zealand, but Latham said the backs had been guilty of not making the most of the good ball their forwards provided.

"There's probably been a lot of emphasis put on the forwards in the New Zealand game but we (backs) could have been a fair bit more clinical in the way we executed as well," said Latham.

"There were times when our forwards gave us very good ball and we didn't use it the way we would have liked both technically and correctly.

"We're putting our hands up and saying we didn't execute well either."

Latham was adamant the heavy loss had not harmed the players' confidence given the poor performance they turned in against the All Blacks.

"I don't think the confidence was dented," said the Queensland fullback.

"I think the pride in the jersey and personal pride as well may have been dented.

"We certainly didn't go out there and play the way we had been training or execute the way we wanted but confidence-wise, I don't think too much was dented."

The Springboks have a fairly handy recent record against Australia, but Latham dismissed past Tests as a guide with the Wallabies fielding a new look pack under new coach John Connolly, who has an 18-month to two-year plan to build a pool of specialist front-rowers.

The Wallabies trained in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 200 to 300 fans in the shadows of the John Eales Grandstand at Brisbane Marist Brothers school with 130kg prop Rodney Blake (ankle injury) training with the squad but still no certainty to play.

Connolly though wants to make a decision by Tuesday on whether he will have Blake's bulk against the monster Springbok pack and that will depend a lot on how his ankle feels when he wakes.

"His ankle is still sore and we'll probably make a decision tomorrow night after we see how he pulls up," said Connolly.

"At this stage we've got three options open, start him, bring him off the bench, or not play him at all."

Connolly said Saturday night's Tri-Nations clash with South Africa would be another difficult assignment for his young, internationally inexperienced forwards against a front-row that had 80 or 90 Tests and eight or nine years of Super 14 competition.

"It's going to be an ongoing process for Australian rugby for the next year or two to build up a bank of props who have international experience.

"We can try a few things to keep improving quickly but it's going to be against world class props and it's definitely a task.

"To compete at international level you have to have a line out and a scrum that definitely hold their hands up," said Connolly, who recently replaced Eddie Jones as Wallaby coach.

"We may get a group of 16 props who the national coaches will monitor the progress of during the course of the Super 14 competition.

"We have Michael Foley is the national forwards coach and we have Alec Evans and Andrew Blades on board and in conjunction with the state coaches we can work on.

"There's no quick answer. The props are young and they are inexperienced."

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