Wallabies coach Robbie Deans says he's unconcerned by the damning statistic of Australia's worst ever Test defeat, Sunday's 53-8 thrashing at the hands of a rampant Springboks side.

A week ago it would have been inconceivable that Deans was about to endure Sunday's 45-point shellacking at Ellis Park.

Flying high after winning in South Africa for the first time in eight years and building towards an almighty showdown with the All Blacks for the Tri-Nations title, Australia were confident they were in with a real shot at breaking a 45-year hoodoo in Johannesburg.

But the Springboks, stung by a barrage of criticism after two straight home losses, piled on eight tries in a monstering performance in front of their Johannesburg faithful.

The Wallabies' previous worst losing margin was 39 points, also against South Africa at Pretoria in 1997.

"A Test loss is a Test loss," Deans said.

"I'm not too concerned about the numbers to be frank.

"It hurts when you lose. You can chase the statistics all you like but the fact was it was a belting.

"If you lose a Test by one, or more than one, you came second.

"I don't go home and look at the scores, in fact I am quite often not even conscious of the scoreboard.

"But you have a fair idea whether you get home or not, that's the whole point."

Australia showed promise with some early attacking bursts but were undone by the Springboks' superb long kicking game and the power of the home side's loose forwards.

Some soft defence, poor handling and inaccurate lineout throwing didn't help either and Boks winger Jongi Nokwe had managed a hat-trick by halftime, when the home side led 27-3.

"We had some possession early, looked threatening, didn't finish," Deans said.

"It might have helped the mindset, ours and theirs, if we had scored early but it's done and dusted.

"Obviously the defence dropped away, the enthusiasm in defence dropped away.

"It was the reverse of last week in many ways.

"Possibly we became a little bit outcome orientated in the way we approached the game, because when the outcome went so did some of the effort."

Deans said the home side had turned up with a potent mix of motivators.

"They had two pretty valuable components today that served them well," he said.

"One was they were desperate and the other was they were uninhibited, nothing to lose, so there's a powerful mix when you get your foot in the door, particularly when you've been suffering for a while.

"When you start to get a roll on, everything sticks and you enjoy it, you're excited and it becomes very difficult to stop."

Now it's the Wallabies who are suffering, despite captain Stirling Mortlock raising the Mandela Challenge Plate which Australia won courtesy of their wins in Perth and Durban.

"It feels like it's a consolation," Mortlock said.

But the skipper added the unwanted piece of history would not weigh heavily on him.

"Not at all," he said.

"Obviously in the back of our minds it's not the best but you move on."

Deans' side has now lost two Tests since his tenure began, both after important wins.

The Wallabies were belted 39-10 by the All Blacks in Auckland a week after their emotional 34-19 win in Sydney.

They will be hoping for a huge improvement when they host New Zealand in Brisbane on September 13 in the Tri-Nations decider.

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