White's head called for after rout

Tri Nations championship/Australia 49 South Africa 0: Former Springbok players have called for the head of national coach Jake White after his side suffered a humiliating loss to Australia in their Tri Nations opener in Brisbane on Saturday.

The headline in the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport shouted, "Jake must go," while the sports pages of the English-language Sunday Times said, "Now it's the Cry Nations as Jake blames ref."

The former Springbok scrumhalf Divan Serfontein told Rapport, "That was the worst ever performance by a Springbok team. It was shocking. The faster White resigns the better. He has no clue what's going on - he must do the honourable thing and pack his bags.

"Jake has his favourite players and sticks with them whether they're the best or not. You can paint your face green and sing the national anthem at full volume but if you're not the best, then you're not the best."

The Sunday Times said: "Jake White committed the cardinal sin of blaming the referee and the absence of regular starting line-up players in his analysis of why his side lost by a humiliating score yesterday."

It was only the 11th time South Africa have failed to score a point and the first time since 1999 the Boks have been shut out. It was also their second-heaviest defeat in history.

Springbok player of the century Frik du Preez told Rapport: "It's a scandal. It's never nice to lose, but to lose like that was pathetic. The players don't pick themselves, so you can't blame them. Blame the coach. If I was Jake White I would resign."

Part of the anger stems from White's much-publicised demand for a contract extension until 2009 even though the team has not performed well this year.

Last month, White lost his first home game in charge, against France, after a 14-match unbeaten run, which came on the back of the coach threatening to take up another job offer if his demands for another two years on his contract were not met.

The Springboks face the All Blacks in Wellington next week and then return to Australia to play the Wallabies in Sydney two weeks later.

The Wallabies, still smarting from the criticism over last weekend's 32-12 loss to New Zealand, rebounded with an emphatic six-try demolition of the South Africans at Brisbane's Lang Park.

The Wallaby backs, led by outhalf Stephen Larkham, showed again why they are regarded as one of the best attacking units in the world, inside centre Matt Giteau crossing twice and fullback Chris Latham once, but their performances could not mask some other glaring problems.

The Australians squandered several try-scoring opportunities through sloppy handling and problems at the breakdown, while the scrum, which crumbled so badly against New Zealand, was again suspect.

The Wallabies pack spent most of the first half backpedalling before finally gaining parity only when the big South African forwards began to tire.

Once the Australian forwards had overcome their deficiencies, however, the floodgates opened and prop Greg Holmes, hooker Jeremy Paul and replacement lock Mark Chisholm all crossed for tries.

Scores: Australia: Tries: J Paul (16), G Holmes (25), M Giteau (37, 66), C Latham (58), M Chisholm (75) Cons: S Mortlock (17, 26, 38, 59, 76) Pens: Mortlock (20, 32) Drop goal: S Larkham (5).

AUSTRALIA: Latham; Gerrard, Mortlock, Giteau, Tuqiri; Larkham, Gregan; Fava, Smith, Elsom; Vickerman, Sharpe; Shepherdson, Paul, Holmes. Replacements: Hardman, Baxter, Chisholm, Waugh, Cordingley, Rogers, Rathbone.

SOUTH AFRICA: Montgomery; Ndungane, Fourie, Olivier, Habana; Van der Westhuyzen, Januarie; Spies, Smith, Van Niekerk; Rossouw, Matfield; Van der Linde, Smit, Du Randt. Replacements: Coetzee, Andrews, Van den Berg, Cronje, Du Preez, Bosman, Paulse.

Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).