http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...016959,00.html

Rocky Elsom blasts Wallabies for poor errors in Tri Nations loss to Springboks
By Jim Tucker
August 30, 2010 .Irate Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom gave his players a blast on Sunday for the recurring cracks in composure which killed their best chance in 47 years to beat South Africa at altitude.

Altitude had nothing to do with Australia's 44-31 loss, littered with all the second-half shortcomings which have become a painful theme for this team.

They included poor finishing at crunch moments, botched lineouts, a spilt catch at a kick-off by Dean Mumm, which led to a try, and several costly turnovers.

Worst of all, there was no try power in a tight finish, despite all the effort, running and heart.

It was just like Christchurch three weeks earlier, when a lack of tries in the second half proved to be the handbrake against New Zealand.

The despair at Loftus Versfeld was starker than normal because the potent first half was such a contrast.

There were four sharp tries, a 21-7 lead after just nine minutes, ruthlessly taken chances and a steady flow of quality ball.

Australia flanker Elsom was blunt when he told his team the outcome was not good enough and each player had to look deep within to do his job better at the crunch times.

"The start (14-0) was great but, critically, not winning the ball at the back end of the game was something that really cost us," Elsom said.

"In a game where whoever held on to the ball would have won, that's a pretty big area to fall down in."

Wallabies halfback Will Genia knew how big a chance had been squandered as Australia's record in Tri Nations Tests stretched to eight losses from 10 starts across 2009-2010.

"I always thought we could beat them and that start justified that belief," Genia said. "Again, it was lack of composure towards the end.

"We made very bad errors at crucial times in our set piece. I think we lost or got poor ball from four lineouts 10m out from their tryline in the last 20 minutes. Those sort of mistakes definitely come back to kill you.

"It's very frustrating. Another thing that let us down was after we scored, they scored straight away.

"The sort of issues that crept in have been consistent problems for us."

The ever-confident Genia believes the Wallabies can snap that ball-and-chain this weekend in Bloemfontein to claim a first Test win on the high veldt since 1963.

Standout winger Drew Mitchell will head there in excellent form. His kick ahead and rattling tackle on Bryan Habana to set up a try for Mumm and a 28-17 lead after just 26 minutes was typical of his decisive play.

Fullback Kurtley Beale missed two high kicks but his sidestep past four defenders to launch the first of James O'Connor's two tries was him at his best.

"If we clean things up, we're a side that could have put 20 or 30 points on South Africa and not let them score," Genia said.

"We never talked about altitude. The way we played showed it was not a problem.

"We'll go back, train and be better in Bloemfontein