The Wallabies’ promising start to the Rugby Championship has come at a brutal cost, with a growing injury crisis exposing the toll of back-to-back collisions with the world champion Springboks.

Australia left South Africa nursing yet more casualties after Saturday’s 30-22 defeat in Cape Town, adding to the list of battered bodies from their famous win in Johannesburg a week earlier.

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The latest blow was season-ending, with star fullback Tom Wright suffering a serious knee injury just minutes into the clash at Cape Town Stadium. Nic White and Joseph Suaalii also failed first-half head injury assessments, while Taniela Tupou dislocated a finger.

🤕 Feeling for you Wrighty. #Wallabies pic.twitter.com/g5tCR8pJJd

— Wallabies (@wallabies) August 24, 2025

It followed the previous week’s attritional Test at Ellis Park that had already claimed Harry Wilson, Dylan Pietsch and James Slipper, while playmaker Ben Donaldson limped out of training before a ball was kicked in Cape Town.

“After today and even losing three guys last week, the attritional nature of the tour is going to make it a little bit more difficult coming up against Argentina,” said coach Joe Schmidt.

“Our strength and depth is going to be tested. The experienced guys are going to have to get around the new guys and we’ll have to assimilate them quickly.”

In total, 14 Test players are currently unavailable – a list that also includes Tom Lynagh, Noah Lolesio, Allan Alaalatoa, Matt Faessler, Jake Gordon and Harry Potter, casualties of the punishing Lions series last month.

The Wallabies nevertheless sit second on the TRC log, just a point behind the All Blacks, with Argentina next up in Townsville on 6 September. Wilson, Gordon and Lynagh could return to face Los Pumas, but doubts linger over White and Suaalii due to mandatory concussion standdowns.

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Australia are also working to extend the involvement of James O’Connor and Will Skelton, though Schmidt admitted depth will be stretched thin in the coming weeks.

For now, the story of their campaign is not just revival under Schmidt, but the bruising reality of trading blows with the Springboks.

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images