Australia's Rugby League convert Timana Tahu said he was "looking for a rope" to hang himself, after his nightmare run-on debut for the Wallabies in their record 53-8 Tri-Nations hammering at the hands of the Springboks at the weekend.

Tahu, who joined the Waratahs this year after eight years and 159 games in Rugby League for Parramatta, Newcastle and Australia's Kangaroos national team, was written up as the new big thing in Rugby Union Down Under ahead of his first start for the Wallabies.

However, Tahu — who took over from the injured Berrick Barnes at inside centre, having played just 23 minutes of Test rugby as a replacement before Saturday — admitted he was "shattered" by his nightmare performance in Johannesburg.

"I've had a few (heavy defeats) in my career and it's just not the best thing in my debut in the starting side...you get given a chance to prove yourself and it's just shattering," Tahu told AAP.

"I was looking for a rope to hang myself.

"South Africa just played out of their skin.

"The first five minutes everything was going well but after that it just felt like we were running backwards all the time.

"It was probably one of those games where you just want to wake up and just think this is a bad dream."

If the nightmare wasn't bad enough, Tahu also had to swallow the Boks' celebrations.

"South Africans sure know how to rub it in and I think that's what made it feel worse," he told AAP.

"The crowd and listening to them after the game, you can hear people cheering and carrying on and it makes you angry, it makes you really angry, it makes you want to play them again next week or tomorrow and try and see if you can square things up."

Australia arrived in Johannesburg confident they were in with a real chance of ending their awful run on the Highveld after a breakthrough win in Durban and with the Springboks seemingly in disarray under eccentric new coach Peter de Villiers.

Tahu may have arrived at Ellis Park without any "baggage", but there's no doubt he will have left with some.

"It's really hard to get into the stadium, the traffic, the crowd," he said.

"It takes you about half an hour, 40 minutes squeezing through the traffic and then you're getting into the stadium and there's a rowdy crowd. But it was a good experience."

AFP