South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer has insisted that there are "no excuses" for his side's defeat to Australia in the Rugby Championship.

Springboks winger Bryan Habana was shown a controversial yellow card with 10 minutes left to play in Perth on Saturday before Australia claimed a 24-23 win late on.

Despite being reduced to 14 men for the final stages of the match, Meyer has no complaints with his team's loss to the Wallabies.

"It was always going to be close, especially away from home, but I thought we were in control for large periods of the game," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "But all credit to them, you can't keep them out with 14 men in the last 10 minutes, especially away from home.

"I almost thought we had it, but the margins in this competition are very, very small. No excuses, they've done it and showed a lot of character at the end."

South Africa return to action next Saturday when they play unbeaten New Zealand in Auckland.