Visitors Australia were unable to shake their Loftus Versfeld hoodoo, losing by five points to South Africa in their Tri-Nations clash. The final score was 20-15.
The Bok victory was laid by their powerful pack. With tighthead Cobus Visagie, hooker Lukas van Biljon, flank André Venter and captain and No.8 Bob Skinstad leading from the front, the home team's forwards built the foundation for a great victory in front of a capacity crowd at Loftus Versfeld.
For the world champions, in their first Test under new coach Eddie Jones, it is back to the drawing board if they are to successfully defend their Tri-Nations crown after the highs of a series win over the Lions.
No-one gave the Springboks a chance to win this game, but they came out firing on all cylinders, and had the Wallabies on the back-foot from the outset.
The score probably flatters Australia, and they can count themselves lucky that they are returning Down Under with one log point in the bag. They tried their best to break the Springbok defence, but failed to do so. The South Africans defended like men possessed, and it paid off for them.
The Springboks took a 14-0 lead at the break after their captain Bob Skinstad scored a brilliant try in the corner as the Wallaby defence went AWOL. Scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen fed the Bok No.8 who ran all of 20 metres before crashing over with Matt Burke on his back.
Although Braam van Straaten missed the conversion, he justified his inclusion in the Bok side early when he slotted a penalty goal from inside his half of the field. That was the first of two first-half penalty goals that Van Straaten struck from more than 50 metres.
After the first penalty, the Boks immediately went on the attack again. From the restart Breyton Paulse made a break before offloading to Skinstad, who gave the ball to Joost van der Westhuizen who was stopped inside the Wallaby 22, but the visitors' backline were offside and Van Straaten increased the Bok lead to 6-0.
Both sides were keen to throw the ball around, but the defence was good all round. Butch James and Van Straaten did well in keeping the Wallabies pinned back in their own half with good tactical kicking, while Elton Flatley and Walker did the same for the visitors.
The Wallabies looked dangerous when they got into the Boks' 22, but everytime they spoiled a good overlap with someone trying to break the homeside's defensive line. Nathan Grey and Toutai Kefu were the culprits, not sending the ball wide when they should have.
Australia's best attacking move came in the 30th minutes when Grey chipped a kick into South Africa's in-goal area, but Andrew Walker knocked on as he was going for the touchdown and the Boks escaped from jail for the third time in the opening stanza.
Burke, who missed two relatively easy attempts early on, got his side's first points in the first minute after the break with a penalty goal. His second three-pointer came four minutes later when Burke landed a 50 metre attempt with ease. But Van Straaten increased his side's lead to 11 points from the restart when Nick Stiles went offside.
Burke added two more penalty goals (in the 50th and 58th minutes) before the Wallabies got a good attacking scrum on the Boks' 22. They spread it wide and the try was on, but Joe Roff held on in the tackle and the Boks were awarded a penalty.
The Boks spent most of the time between the 60th and 70th minutes camped in the Wallaby half and almost scored from a brilliant chip-and-chase by fullback Conrad Jantjes. Unlucky for the Boks Dean Hall did not get a good bounce in the Australian in-goal area after Butch James kicked through.
However, the Boks' relentless pressure paid off when the visitors were penalised with less than 10 minutes remaining. Van Straaten did the necessary and the scored changed to 20-12 with nine minutes left on the clock.
With four minutes left, after replacement flyhalf Manny Edmonds narrowed the lead to five points, the Springboks got a good attacking scrum inside the Wallaby 22, but Breyton Paulse, who had a good game, attempted a drop goal, his second of the night, and failed.
The Wallabies were awarded a scrum in their 22, they attacked, the Boks tackled them man for man, the siren went and the referee ended the game. The Boks are still unbeaten against Australia in Pretoria.
Man of the match: A few contenders here -- André Venter and Joost van der Westhuizen for the Boks, and George Gregan for the Wallabies. However, nobody was better than Braam van Straaten. He proved that you need a good kicker at this level of rugby -- not only at goal, but tactically as well. His goal-kicking was great and Van Straaten slotted five kicks from six attempts at goal.
Moment of the match: Bob Skinstad's try late in the first half saw the Wallabies turn 14 points behind the Boks. They never had it in them to close that gap, and Skinstad left the field smiling after his first taste of victory as captain in the Tri-Nations.
Villain of the match: Wallaby lock David Giffin for his elbow-charge on Robbie Fleck late in the first half. Neither the referee nor the touch-judges spotted him, but Giffin deserves to be cited for the incident.
The teams:
Australia: 1 Rod Moore, 2 Michael Foley, 3 Nic Stiles, 4 John Eales (c), 5 David Giffin, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 George Smith, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan, 10 Elton Flatley, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Nathan Grey, 13 Dan Herbert, 14 Andrew Walker, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves: Matt Cockbain, Manuel Edmonds, Chris Latham, Ben Darwin, David Lyons
Unused: Brendan Cannon, Chris Whitaker
South Africa: 1 Robbie Kempson, 2 Lukas Van Biljon, 3 Cobus Visagie, 4 Johan Ackermann, 5 Mark Andrews, 6 Andre Venter, 7 Andre Vos, 8 Bobby Skinstad (c), 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Butch James, 11 Dean Hall, 12 Robbie Fleck, 13 Braam Van Straaten, 14 Breyton Paulse, 15 Conrad Jantjes
Reserves: John Smit, Corne Krige, Ollie Le Roux, Joe Van Niekerk
Unused: Neil De Kock, Thinus Delport, Deon Kayser
Referee: Mchugh d.
Points Scorers:
Australia
Pen K.: Burke M.C. 4, Edmonds M.H.M. 1
South Africa
Tries: Skinstad R.B. 1
Pen K.: Van Straaten A.J.J. 5
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