Kurt-Lee Arendse hat-trick powers Springboks past Wallabies in Pretoria

Kurt-Lee Arendse scored a hat-trick of tries as the Springboks cruised to an easy 43-12 bonus-point victory over the Wallabies in their Rugby Championship opener at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.

The home side were full value for this win as they held the upper-hand for long periods and eventually outscored their opponents by six tries to two.

Apart from Arendse’s hat-trick, the Boks were awarded two penalty tries and Pieter-Steph du Toit also crossed the whitewash, while their other points came via the boot of Manie Libbok, who slotted three conversions and a penalty.

For the Wallabies, Marika Koroibete and Carter Gordon scored tries and Gordon also added a conversion.

As expected, the forward battle proved crucial and the Boks’ pack deserve plenty of credit for laying an excellent platform for their backs ― particularly Arendse ― who totally outplayed their opponents.

The opening exchanges were cagey, highlighted by plenty of kicking for territory from both sides.  The Boks had a chance to open the scoring as early as the third minute when the Wallabies infringed at a breakdown about five metres inside the Boks’ half but Libbok’s long range shot at goal fell just short of the crossbar.

The Wallabies drew first blood, however, when, after winning a turnover at a lineout close to the halfway line, they launched a counter-attack in the eighth minute which caught the home side by surprise.

The ball was shifted wide to Koroibete ― with Quade Cooper, Len Ikitau and Tom Wright all handling in the build-up ― and he showed the cover defence a clean pair of heels before crossing in the left-hand corner.

Reece Hodge’s conversion attempt was off target and five minutes later Libbok made up for his earlier miss when he slotted a three-pointer off the kicking tee, after Australia strayed offside on defence.

Shortly afterwards, the Boks launched an attack from just inside their half with Andre Esterhuizen, Marco van Staden and Canan Moodie prominent carriers.  They soon found themselves deep inside Wallabies territory with Steven Kitshoff and Bongi Mbonambi taking the ball into contact before Esterhuizen offloaded to Arendse, who cantered in for his first try.

On the half hour-mark, the Boks launched a drive just outside the Wallabies’ 10-metre line before Van Staden broke away from the maul before offloading to Mbonambi on his outside.  The Bok hooker did well to draw in the last defender before getting a well-timed pass out to Arendse, who crossed for his second try.

Libbok added the extras which meant the home side had their tails up with the score 17-5 in their favour at half-time.

Six-try #Springboks start 2023 with a bang 🇿🇦#StrongerTogether #RSAvAUS #TRC2023 pic.twitter.com/U69YTADCyT

― Springboks (@Springboks) July 8, 2023

The Boks’ dominance continued after the interval as they made a fiery start to the second half and they spent long periods camped inside Wallabies territory.

In the 51st minute, they were rewarded when they were awarded their first penalty try, after Dave Porecki deliberately collapsed a Bok lineout drive close to his try-line and referee Ben O’Keeffe also sent him to the sin bin for that indiscretion.

With a man down, the Boks were rampant on attack and in the 55th minute, after strong carries from Esterhuizen and Du Toit, Lukhanyo Am offloaded to Arendse, who evaded the attentions of three Wallabies before diving over for his third try.

Despite that score, South Africa did not sck off and continued to launch numerous attacks while the Wallabies continued to concede several soft penalties.  A Libbok try was ruled out on the hour-mark, after Du Toit knocked on in the build-up, but in the 68th minute the Boks were awarded another penalty try after Suliasi Vunivalu was penalised for a deliberate knock down close to his try-line ― an offence which also saw him being yellow carded.

And in the 75th minute, the hosts took the ball through several phases inside the Wallabies’ 22 before Du Toit rounded off in style.  That sealed a comprehensive victory although Wallabies replacement back Gordon crossed for a late consolation try which added some respectability to the final score.

Springboks end Australian hoodoo with superb win

South Africa got their Rugby Championship campaign back on track after they produced a dominant display to defeat the Wallabies 24-8 in Sydney for their first win on Australian soil since 2013.

The Springboks were excellent throughout, controlling possession and territory and moving in front via Damian de Allende’s early try.

Noah Lolesio did reduce the deficit via a penalty but Canan Moodie’s debut score deservedly gave the visitors a 12-3 advantage at the interval.

It was a lead they would not relinquish as they continued to put Australia under the pump, with Franco Mostert and Makazole Mapimpi securing a fine bonus-point triumph, despite Pete Samu’s consolation.

After successive defeats in the Rugby Championship, Jacques Nienaber demanded a response and he received it.  Despite being without stars Lukhanyo Am and Pieter-Steph du Toit, they were outstanding and utterly dominated the opening exchanges.

The forwards were physical and abrasive, controlling the set-piece battle, while inexperienced half-backs Jaden Hendrikse and Damian Willemse were also impressive.

It was Hendrikse’s efficiency from the base which set up the first try as he constantly shifted the point of contract in the opposition 22.  Australia were manful in defence but they eventually folded as De Allende touched down from close range.

Matt Philip was sin-binned after the Wallabies infringed several times in the build-up to that try and South Africa remained in the ascendency, but they initially failed to add to their lead.

Their profligacy was an issue last week and there would have been concerns after they spurned further chances in Sydney, especially when the hosts got on the board through a Lolesio penalty, but the Springboks managed to stay on the front foot.

They were in complete control and finally extended their advantage through Moodie’s score late in the half.  Hendrikse’s inch-perfect box-kick was matched by the chase and leap of the debutant, who rose above Marika Koroibete, brilliantly collected and surged across the whitewash.

Dave Rennie needed a vast improvement from his players in the second period but it failed to materialise as they struggled to get out of their own half.

Brutal performance

The Springboks were simply brutal in contact, constantly sending their opponents into reverse in both defence and attack, but they also found some subtlety.

South Africa’s third try was a thing of beauty.  Hendrikse was once again superb in dictating the tempo before forwards and backs combined to send Mostert scampering over.

Willemse, for the second time in the match, missed a difficult conversion, but it did not matter and they secured the win when Willie le Roux sent Mapimpi away, who held off Koroibete to score.

The Bok wing, in rather petulant fashion, reacted to his opposite number for some unbeknown reason, which set off both sets of players.

After it had calmed down, Mapimpi was correctly handed a yellow card and Le Roux then followed him off the field late in the encounter, but by that point the result had already been decided, despite Samu’s consolation.

Wallabies continue fine run against Boks in Australia

The Wallabies continued their impressive record against the Springboks in Australia when they sealed a 25-17 triumph in Adelaide on Saturday.

The home side were deserved winners as they dominated for long periods and eventually outscored the Boks by three tries to two with Fraser McReight leading the way with a brace, while Marika Koroibete also crossed the whitewash.

Their other points came via the boot of Noah Lolesio, who finished with a 10-point haul after succeeding with two conversions and as many penalties.

For South Africa, Kwagga Smith scored two tries while Handre Pollard slotted a penalty with Elton Jantjies and Jaden Hendrikse adding a conversion apiece.

The result means the home side stretch their unbeaten record in Australia against the Springboks to eight matches.

Australia made a terrific start and shortly after the kick-off they found themselves on the attack deep inside South Africa’s 22 thanks to a strong carry down the right-hand touchline from Rob Valetini.  After he was brought to ground the ball was recycled quickly and Folau Fainga’a did well to take the ball into contact before he was stopped close to the try-line.  McReight then ran onto a pass from Nic White before diving over for an opening try.

Five minutes later, the visitors strayed offside on defence and Lolesio gave the Wallabies a 10-0 lead when he slotted the resulting penalty.  South Africa were struggling to get a foothold in the game and had two opportunities to open their account courtesy of penalty attempts from Pollard during the opening quarter but both shots at goal were off target.

He eventually succeeded with one in the 24th minute after White was blown up for obstruction and with points on the board were slowly gaining the upper hand.  They spent most of the second quarter camped inside the Wallabies’ half but, despite dominating during the rest of the half, they failed to capitalise on that dominance.

On the half-hour mark, the Springboks played quickly from a penalty close to Australia’s try-line and Ox Nche crossed the whitewash but was held up by the Wallabies defence.  Tom Wright was the tackler but his efforts saw him being yellow carded as he did not retreat the 10 metres after the Boks took the tap penalty.

Just before the break Makazole Mapimpi found himself in space out wide deep inside the Wallabies’ 22 but he was stopped in his tracks close to the try-line by a magnificent cover tackle from Koroibete.

Mapimpi knocked on in the process and from the resulting scrum Faf de Klerk was yellow carded for a swinging arm to White’s face and the Wallabies went into the sheds holding a 10-3 lead at half-time.

Wallabies kick on in second half

Six minutes after the restart, Koroibete gathered a pass from Lolesio deep inside the Boks’ 22 and bamboozled Pollard with quick feet before showing a superb turn of speed on his way over the try-line.

Although Lolesio failed with the conversion attempt, that score reinvigorated the home side and in the 56th minute they extended their lead when McReight crossed for his second try.  This, after Lolesio gathered an inside pass from James Slipper on the Boks’ 10-metre line and soon found himself inside their 22 after a superb line break.  He was hauled in by the cover defence but did well to offload to McReight, who had an easy run-in over the try-line.

The Boks seemed shellshocked but had little to offer in response.  In the 64th minute they conceded a breakdown penalty and Lolesio made no mistake from the kicking tee to give his side a deserved 25-3 lead.

With the game in the bag, the Wallabies took their foot off the pedal and in the 74th minute Smith scored his first try after Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch laid the groundwork with some deft offloads in the build-up.  And just before the final whistle, Smith crossed from close quarters after he ran onto a pass from Hendrikse, who played quickly from a penalty.

That try added some respectability to the score but the Boks will be hugely disappointed with the end result, leaving their Rugby Championship chances in the balance.

Wallabies claim bonus-point win over Springboks

The Wallabies secured yet another triumph over the Springboks courtesy of a deserved 30-17 bonus-point victory in their Rugby Championship encounter in Brisbane on Saturday.

After claiming a narrow win over the world champions last week, the Wallabies continued to impress and they outscored the Boks four tries to one with Len Ikitau and Marika Koroibete scoring two five-pointers apiece while Quade Cooper succeeded with two conversions and a couple of penalties.

For the Boks, Lukhanyo Am crossed the whitewash and Handre Pollard added four penalties.

The Boks did most of the early attacking but had nothing to show for their efforts as they were met a solid defensive effort by the home side.  Things went pear-shaped for the visitors in the 12th minute when Faf de Klerk was yellow carded for slapping the ball out of Nic White’s hands at a ruck inside the Boks’ 22.

It was a needless and cynical offence and Australia made full use of their numerical advantage with Ikitau scoring his tries during the Bok scrum-half’s stint in the sin bin.

From the resulting penalty, the Wallabies attacked from a lineout and the ball was shifted quickly to their backs where Ikitau slipped past a couple of defenders before crossing for his first Test try.

Cooper’s conversion attempt struck an upright before Pollard reduced the deficit with a penalty after Matt Philip infringed at a lineout.  With a man down, South Africa’s much vaunted defence looked all at sea and midway through the half Tom Banks threw an inside pass to Koroibete, who offloaded to Ikitau and he dotted down again.

Soon after, De Klerk returned to action and the next 10 minutes were evenly contested with Pollard and Cooper trading penalties which meant the Wallabies were leading 15-6 by the half-hour mark.

In the 31st minute, Andrew Kellaway was penalised when he tackled Am in the air and Pollard narrowed the gap to six points when he slotted the resulting place-kick.

Australia were then reduced to 14 men when Lachlan Swinton was yellow carded for a no-arms challenge on Duane Vermeulen.  Initially, referee Matthew Carley wanted to issue a red as he thought Swinton’s shoulder hit Vermeulen’s head but television replays showed that the initial contact was with the Bok number eight’s shoulder.

South Africa dominated the closing stages of the half but although they spent long periods inside Australia’s half, a 37th minute Pollard penalty was their only reward and the match was evenly poised at half-time with the Wallabies holding a 15-12 lead.

The Boks made a terrific start to the second period and from the restart they regathered possession before taking the ball through several phases inside Australia’s half.  They were soon on the attack on the edge of their hosts’ 22 where De Klerk stabbed through a well-weighted grubber kick which Am gathered before scoring his try.

Although Pollard’s conversion attempt was off target, the visitors’ tails were up and they held the upper hand for the next 10 minutes but the Wallabies regained the lead courtesy of a Cooper penalty in the 50th minute.

After that it was one-way traffic with Australia the dominant side while South Africa made several uncharacteristic unforced errors.

🤯 Taniela, take a bow!

📺 @StanSportAU & @9Gem#TRC2021 #Wallabies #RSAvAUS @eToroAU @cadburyAU pic.twitter.com/Otux6OSRJM

— Wallabies (@wallabies) September 18, 2021

On the hour-mark, the Wallabies launched an attack on the blindside which caught the Boks by surprise with Taniela Tupou doing well to draw in Sbu Nkosi before getting a brilliant offload out to Koroibete, who outsprinted the cover defence before dotting down.

That boosted the home side’s confidence and in the 68th minute Koroibete went over for his second try after gliding through a gap in the Bok defence.

That clinched the result for the hosts although the world champions continued to fight but, in doing so, they lost their discipline and just before full-time Jasper Wiese was also sent to the sin bin after taking Samu Kerevi out illegally at a ruck.

Quade Cooper the hero as Wallabies edge out Springboks

A late penalty from Quade Cooper secured a 28-26 Rugby Championship win for the Wallabies against the Springboks on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

In a hard-fought and tightly contested encounter, the result was in the balance until the dying moments but Cooper held his nerve to slot a difficult goal-kick, after the Boks’ pack were penalised for illegal scrummaging.

Cooper finished with a 23-point haul as he also succeeded with six other penalties and a conversion after Andrew Kellaway went over for Australia’s only try.  For South Africa Malcolm Marx (two) and Bongi Mbonambi crossed the whitewash and Handre Pollard added three penalties and a conversion.

There were some strong carries and big hits during the early exchanges and the sides were level at 3-3 after Pollard and Cooper traded penalties inside the opening 10 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, the Springboks regained the lead when Pollard succeeded with his second three-pointer off the kicking tee, after Angus Bell dropped his bind at a scrum.

However, things went pear-shaped in 16th minute for the world champions when they lost the services of their captain, Siya Kolisi, who was yellow carded for a dangerous tip tackle on Tom Banks.

And with a one-man advantage, it wasn’t long before the Wallabies breached the Boks’ much vaunted defence.  Samu Kerevi did the damage with a superb line break before throwing a long pass to Kellaway, who stepped past a couple of defenders before crossing for the opening try.

Shortly after Kolisi returned to the field, Pollard stabbed a teasing grubber kick through behind Australia’s try-line but although Lukhanyo Am gathered the ball, he lost possession while trying to dot down.

Despite that setback, South Africa soon had a numerical advantage of their own when Matt Philip was sent to the sin-bin for collapsing a lineout drive close to his try-line.  Shortly afterwards, the Boks launched a lineout drive on the Wallabies’ five-metre line from which Mbonambi went over for his five-pointer.

On the stroke of half-time, Bell made up for his earlier indiscretion at scrum-time when he put pressure on Frans Malherbe at the set-piece and the Bok front-row was soon penalised, with Cooper succeeding off the kicking tee to give Australia a deserved 19-11 lead at half-time.

The Springboks made the brighter start to the second period and spent most of the early stages of the half camped in Wallabies territory.  They could not breach Australia’s defence though but narrowed the gap to five points courtesy of another Pollard penalty in the 46th minute.

Five minutes later, the Boks were reduced to 14 men again when Willie le Roux received his marching orders for a deliberate knock down while the Wallabies were on the attack and Cooper slotted the resulting penalty which gave his side a 22-14 lead.

The Boks needed a response and that came shortly after Folau Fainga’a received a yellow card for a no-arms tackle on Ox Nché, with South Africa soon on the attack at a lineout deep inside Wallabies territory.  They had the Wallabies on the back foot with a strong drive from which Marx scored and Pollard added the extras which meant the match was evenly balanced with Australia holding a slender 22-21 lead.

Two minutes later, the Wallabies extended their lead when Cooper succeeded with his sixth penalty, after Jasper Wiese was blown up for holding onto the ball on the ground.

Despite that setback, the Boks did not panic and in the 72nd minute Marx went over for his second try ― once again off a lineout drive but, crucially, Damian Willemse was off target with his conversion attempt.

That proved costly as Cooper showed his class in the game’s closing stages when he slotted the match-winning penalty, sparking scenes of jubilation in the home camp.

Bonus-point win for impressive Springboks

South Africa kicked off their Rugby Championship campaign on a positive note as they overcame Australia 35-17 in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Herschel Jantjies enjoyed a dream debut as he scored two while Lood de Jager, S'bu Nkosi and Cobus Reinach also crossed to seal the bonus.

In reply the Wallabies' two tries came via Dane Haylett-Petty and Bernard Foley as they struggled at Ellis Park in a disappointing showing.

The Springboks were leading 14-10 at the interval in an evenly contested first period, with Australia possibly feeling upset not to be in front.

Defences were on top early on before Nkosi broke down the right wing on 11 minutes before finding his scrum-half Jantjies in support.  It was the ideal nerve settling score for the debutant and his namesake, Elton, added the simple extras as South Africa moved seven points up.

Foley did cut the lead to four points on 17 minutes after a breakdown offence and they went close to moving in front soon after as centre Samu Kerevi's pass to flank Lukhan Salakaia-Loto saw him gallop over.  However, that pass was adjudged to have been forward by the TMO.

After that fillip, the Boks were then dealt a blow when centre Andre Esterhuizen was yellow carded for making a high tackle on Tom Banks.  However, it did not affect them in the immediate aftermath as Pieter-Steph du Toit's chip kick over the top led to De Jager burrowing over.

Australia needed to rally and did so on 29 minutes as, with a numerical advantage, they went wide to where Haylett-Petty finished very well.  That was the beginning of a dominant spell in opposition territory for the visitors, but they couldn't make it count as the half ended 14-10.

Congratulations to our three Springbok debutants today.  Rynhardt, Herschel and Lizo are now Boks #912, #913 and #914 respectively.  #Respect #StrongerTogether #RSAvAus pic.twitter.com/0sIS1Ustkj

— Springboks (@Springboks) July 20, 2019

The Boks enjoyed the better of the early second-half sparring and came close to extending the lead but for Jantjies' penalty coming up short.  However, they would continue to dominate in the 22 of Australia, who had lost Taniela Tupou to the sin-bin for a dangerous clear-out.

The pressure eventually told on 56 minutes as quick hands coupled with offloading in contact allowed Nkosi to go over on the right for 21-10.

South Africa were now motoring with Jantjies claiming his brace on 63 minutes, racing in on the blindside of a ruck to make it a 28-10 buffer.

Australia desperately needed the next score and they got it when Kurtley Beale's break and offload found Foley who crossed to cut the gap and with it take the try bonus-point away from the Springboks.  Therefore with 10 minutes to play there was plenty still riding on the game.

But South Africa ultimately managed to reclaim that bonus point in the final play of the game as Reinach darted over to secure the five points, putting down a marker to their Rugby Championship rivals as they now prepare to head to Wellington where New Zealand lie in wait.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  H Jantjies 2, De Jager, Nkosi, Reinach
Cons:  E Jantjies 5
Yellow Card:  Esterhuizen

For Australia:
Tries:  Haylett-Petty, Foley
Cons:  Foley 2
Pen:  Foley
Yellow Card:  Tupou

South Africa:  15 Warrick Gelant, 14 S’bu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Francois Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Schalk Brits, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Dillyn Leyds

Australia:  15 Tom Banks, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nic White, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 5 Rory Arnold, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 James Slipper
Replacements:  16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 Will Genia, 22 Matt To’omua, 23 Kurtley Beale

Referee:  Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Matthew Carley (England), Karl Dickson (England)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Springboks see off Wallabies in tight affair

South Africa continued with their fine recent form when they beat Australia 23-12 in a Rugby Championship Test in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

In a tightly contested match, the Springboks were made to work hard for this result as they were under plenty of pressure for long periods but a solid defensive effort, particularly in the second half, kept the Wallabies at bay.

Both teams scored two tries apiece, although excellent goalkicking from Handré Pollard proved to be the difference between the sides and he contributed 13 points courtesy of three penalties and two conversions.

The victory is South Africa's third of the tournament and consolidates second position on the table while Australia are still firmly rooted to the bottom of the standings.

South Africa made a terrific start when 25 seconds into the match Kurtley Beale threw a long pass — close to his tryline — which Aphiwe Dyantyi intercepted, from under the nose of Dane Haylett-Petty, before crossing for the opening try.

Pollard slotted the conversion which meant the Boks had their tails up with the score 7-0 in their favour.

Three minutes later, the Wallabies had a chance to narrow the gap when Matt Toomua lined up a penalty, after the Boks strayed offside on defence, but his shot at goal was wide of the posts.

The home side held the upper hand over the next 15 minutes but, despite having the bulk of the possession, they could not convert their dominance into points.

Despite being on the back-foot during that period, the visitors were kept in the game thanks to a superb defensive effort with David Pocock leading the charge with two crucial steals at the breakdown.

However, the Boks' fortunes would change in the 21st minute when Pollard beat a couple of defenders inside the Wallabies' 22 before throwing an inside pass to Faf de Klerk, who raced away before scoring next to the posts.

Despite that score, the visitors stayed true to their attacking roots and ran the ball from all areas of the field.  And in the 26th minute that tactic reaped reward when Will Genia threw a long pass to Reece Hodge, who dotted down in the right-hand corner.

Toomua's conversion was off target but shortly afterwards Marika Koroibete found himself in space down the left-hand touchline, inside South Africa's half, before throwing a pass to Genia, who cantered in for the visitors' second try.

This time Toomua was successful off the kicking tee which meant the match was evenly poised with the Springboks leading 14-12.

However, in the 34th minute, Australia strayed offside on defence close to their tryline and Pollard added the resulting penalty to give his side a five-point lead.

The Wallabies had a chance to narrow the gap shortly afterwards when Pollard was blown up for offside play but Reece Hodge was off-target with a long range penalty.

Just before half-time, Siya Kolisi did brilliantly to win a penalty for his side at a breakdown and Pollard added another three-pointer which gave the Boks a 20-12 lead at the interval.

The Springboks made a bright start to the second half and six minutes into the half they extended their lead when Pollard slotted another penalty after Pocock was blown up for an illegal hit on Dyantyi.

The next 20 minutes was an arm wrestle with Australia spending long periods inside South Africa's half but, although the visitors were awarded several penalties within goalkicking range, their captain, Michael Hooper, opted to kick for touch instead.

In the 64th minute, the Springboks' penchant for conceding penalties proved costly when Dyantyi was yellow carded when he slowed the ball down cynically at a ruck inside his 22.

That gave the Wallabies a chance to up the ante on attack and, although they did just that, a combination of unforced errors and the Boks' excellent defensive work kept them out during Dyantyi's stint off the field and the game's closing stages.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Dyantyi, De Klerk
Cons:  Pollard 2
Pens:  Pollard 3
Yellow Card:  Dyantyi

For Australia:
Tries:  Hodge, Genia
Con:  Toomua

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier , 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Damian Willemse

Australia:  15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Israel Folau, 13 Reece Hodge, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Izack Rodda, 4 Adam Coleman, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Folau Faingaa, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Rob Simmons, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Bernard Foley, 23 Jack Maddocks

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Matthew Carley (England)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

Wallabies hold on to deny Springboks

Australia got their Rugby Championship campaign back on track when they secured a hard-fought 23-18 victory over South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday.

As expected, this was a tough battle between two evenly matched sides but the teams committed a plethora of unforced errors which meant the game had a stop-start nature to it.

Both sides scored two tries apiece although a fine all-round performance from Matt Toomua proved the difference between them in the end as he finished with a 15-point haul courtesy of a try, two conversions and two penalties.

Australia made the brighter start and took the lead as early as the second minute when Michael Hooper burrowed his way over the try-line from close quarters after Scott Sio and Allan Alaalatoa went close in the build-up.

Toomua added the conversion but despite being on the back foot early on, South Africa soon took control of proceedings and were the dominant side for the next 15 minutes.

Elton Jantjies opened the Springboks' account from the kicking tee in the seventh minute after Alaalatoa was penalised for a scrum indiscretion.

The Boks continued to dominate as the half progressed and took the lead seven minutes later when Bongi Mbonambi dotted down off the back of a line-out drive deep inside Wallabies territory.

Jantjies added the extras which gave the visitors a 10-7 lead and they went further ahead in the 28th minute when Makazole Mapimpi gathered a long pass from Faf de Klerk before diving over in the right-hand corner.

But despite that try, the Wallabies were soon back in the match thanks to a mistake from the Boks deep inside their 22.  This, when Mbonambi over-cooked a long throw-in at a line-out on his five-metre line.  The ball was gathered by Toomua, who had an easy run-in under the posts and he dusted himself off before adding the conversion which meant the match was evenly poised with South Africa holding a one-point lead.

The Boks extended their lead in the 39th minute, however, when Jantjies added another penalty after another infringement from the Wallabies at a scrum deep inside their half.

But that would not be the last points of the half as deep into injury time, Steven Kitshoff infringed at a ruck and Reece Hodge landed a long-range penalty from 53 metres out, which meant South Africa held a slender 18-17 lead at half-time.

The second-half was a more subdued affair and the opening points of the half were registered in the 55th minute when Toomua slotted a penalty after Kitshoff was blown up again for playing the ball on the ground.

That meant the Wallabies were leading 20-18 and Toomua gave his side a five-point lead when he added another penalty in the 69th minute after Tendai Mtawarira was penalised for illegal scrummaging.

The rest of the half was a tight affair as South Africa tried to regain the initiative but their game was littered with errors and they failed to haul in their hosts.

The Boks hammered away at the Wallabies' try-line and the visitors thought they crossed for their third try when Francois Louw went over in the 78th minute but his effort was disallowed due to a knock on from Malcolm Marx in the build-up.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Hooper, Toomua
Cons:  Toomua 2
Pens:  Toomua 2, Hodge

For South Africa:
Tries:  Mbonambi, Mapimpi
Con:  Jantjies
Pens:  Jantjies 2

Australia:  15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Jack Maddocks, 13 Reece Hodge, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Will Genia, 8 Pete Samu, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Lukhan Tui, 5 Izack Rodda, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Ned Hanigan, 21 Joe Powell, 22 Bernard Foley, 23 Tom Banks

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements:  16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Rudolph Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Cheslin Kolbe

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO:  Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

Boks and Wallabies end all square in Bloem

South Africa and Australia could not be separated as they played out a highly entertaining 27-27 draw in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

In a fast-paced and thrilling encounter, in which the lead changed hands several times, both sides gave the ball plenty of air throughout and each team scored three converted tries.

With the All Blacks on course to win the Rugby Championship again, this Test was a shootout for second place in the standings and both sides were competitive throughout although like the corresponding Test in Perth, they had to settle for a share of the spoils.

The Springboks showed their intent from the outset and opted to run the ball from all areas of the field.  This tactic seemed to surprise their opponents initially, but the Wallabies adapted quickly and soaked up the early pressure with a solid defensive effort.

And in the 11th minute, the Wallabies caught the Boks by surprise with a brilliant move which saw Israel Folau crossing for the opening try.

This, after an attacking scrum on the edge of South Africa's 22 saw Tevita Kuridrani running a superb dummy line, before Bernard Foley threw an inside pass to the on-rushing Folau, who glided through a huge gap in the Bok back-line before scoring next to the posts.

Foley added the extras, but the Boks were soon camped inside the visitors' 22 and five minutes later, they were rewarded when Ruan Dreyer shrugged off a couple of tacklers before barging over for his first Test try.

Elton Jantjies converted before a Foley penalty in the 23rd minute gave the Wallabies a 10-7 lead but Jantjies restored parity two minutes later with a penalty of his own, after Jack Dempsey was blown up for deliberately knocking down the ball when South Africa were on the attack deep inside Australia's half.

The Wallabies regained the lead in the 35th minute — Foley slotting a penalty after Dreyer was penalised for illegal scrummaging.

Both sides continued to show attacking intent as the half drew to a close, but no further points were scored during this period.  Folau was fortunate not to be yellow carded, however, as a rough challenge — in which he pulled Dillyn Leyds by the hair — led to some pushing and shoving off-the-ball between several players, just before the break.

The Boks made a superb start to the second half when, three minutes after the restart, Jan Serfontein crossed for his side's third try after Leyds and Siya Kolisi combined brilliantly in the build-up.

That score meant the Boks held the lead for the first time and although Jantjies slotted the conversion, the Wallabies gave the perfect response shortly afterwards when Foley made a telling break before offloading to Marika Koroibete, who outpaced the cover defence before crossing for his first Test try.

The topsy-turvy nature of this game continued as two minutes later, Serfontein made a telling break before getting a pass out to Courtnall Skosan, who crossed for his side's third try despite the attentions of two defenders.

Five minutes later, the Wallabies struck back — Koroibete rounding off in the left-hand corner after the ball was taken through several phases in the build-up.

Foley showed his class as he calmly slotted the conversion from close to the touchline which meant the Wallabies were now leading 27-24 with just over 20 minutes left on the clock.

The Boks were desperate to strike back and they did just that courtesy of a long range penalty from Jantjies in the 71st minute.  That meant the score was level again and although Jantjies had a chance to win the game for the hosts, he pushed a difficult penalty attempt wide of the posts in the dying moments.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Dreyer, Serfontein, Skosan
Cons:  Jantjies 3
Pens:  Jantjies 2

For Australia:
Tries:  Folau, Koroibete 2
Cons:  Foley 3
Pens:  Foley 2

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Marika Koroibete, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Jack Dempsey, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Ned Hanigan, 21 Lukhan Tui, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Samu Kerevi

Referee:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Wallabies and Springboks draw in Perth

Australia and South Africa played out to a 23-23 draw in their Rugby Championship clash at nib Stadium in Perth on Saturday.

Both sides scored their points in identical fashion:  two tries, two conversions and three penalties each.

The away side opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a penalty from fly-half Elton Jantjies after the Wallabies were penalised once again for an early drive.  Four minutes later, the Wallabies fired back with a penalty of their own courtesy of fly-half Bernard Foley.

South Africa scored the game's first try.  Scrum-half Ross Cronje offloaded to outside centre Jesse Kriel, who hoofed the ball downfield for the galloping Raymond Rhule to chase.  He shouldered off Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper, giving Kriel space to collect his own kick and score unopposed in the right hand corner.

Moment later the Wallabies scored their reply try.  Full-back Israel Folau jumped and tapped back a kick-off to Adam Coleman.  The ball found inside centre Kurtley Beale, who utilised his vision and footwork to run around the Bok defenders to score.  Foley landed another penalty just before the half-time hooter to give the home side a three point advantage at the break.

A fantastic driving maul saw Australia hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau score a converted try early in the second half.  South Africa reduced the home side's lead to seven points after Jantjies slotted another penalty kick which was awarded after a Wallaby was caught offside.

The Springboks then scored a levelling converted try after a 20 metre maurauding maul resulted in a try for Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx.  After 67 minutes, a monsterous Bok scrum from five metres out resulted in a penalty awarded which Jantjies duely converted.

Foley responded with his third penalty conversion after South Africa illegally cleared out the scrum-half.  Posession was exchanged numerous times in the last five minutes but the drama ended with a 23-23 draw.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Beale, Polota-Nau
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 3

For South Africa:
Tries:  Kriel, Marx
Cons:  Jantjies 2
Pens:  Jantjies 3

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Samu Kerevi, 23 Curtis Rona

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Springboks return to winning ways

South Africa returned to the victory trail when they secured a deserved 18-10 triumph over Australia in their Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria on Saturday.

An accomplished kicking display from Morne Steyn, who scored all his team's points, guided the home side to victory although the Wallabies scored the game's only try early in the first half when Scott Sio went over the whitewash.

The result means the Boks ended a three-match losing streak and they move above the Wallabies into second place in the standings.

Despite their win, there are still question marks about the Boks though as the Wallabies dominated the territorial stakes and spent large parts of the game in the home side's half.

Springbok head coach Allister Coetzee's decision to go with a six/two, forwards/backs split backfired on him as the Boks lost the services of Jesse Kriel in the first half as well as Bryan Habana and Rudy Paige early in the second half.

This meant that the Boks were forced to play with Jaco Kriel on the left wing during the game's final quarter.  But to their credit, the Boks showed great character and a solid defensive effort in the second half secured them this result.

The home side's captain Adriaan Strauss deserves special praise as he led from the front in what was by far his best Test of the season.  He was named the official man of the match.

The Boks made a bright start and after taking the ball through several phases with their forwards, Steyn opened the scoring with a well-taken drop goal in the fifth minute.

The Wallabies were soon level, however, when Bernard Foley landed a penalty after Eben Etzebeth was penalised for taking Sean McMahon out off the ball midway between the halfway line and South Africa's 22.

Five minutes later, Habana failed to find touch and Israel Folau launched a counter-attack from inside his 22.  The ball went through several pairs of hands and the Wallabies were soon close to the home side's try-line.

Will Genia then threw a long pass to Sekope Kepu who did well to offload to his front row partner Sio,who went over under the posts for his first Test try.

Australia had a chance to increase their lead in the 23rd minute, when Vincent Koch was blown up for a scrum infringement midway between the halfway line and the visitors' 22, but Reece Hodge's monster effort landed just short of the cross-bar.

Three minutes later, Steyn narrowed the gap to four points with a penalty, after several Wallabies went off their feet at a ruck.  South Africa were then handed a lifeline in the 35th minute when Folau was yellow carded for taking Habana out off the ball after the Bok flyer had chipped ahead, close to the Wallabies' 22.

Steyn made no mistake with the subsequent place-kick which meant the game was evenly poised with score at 10-9 to the visitors.  South Africa upped the ante on attack but couldn't round off their attacking chances but they regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Steyn added his third penalty after Australia strayed offside on defence.

There wasn't much to report during the early exchanges in the second half although the Wallabies had two golden opportunities to take lead but Hodge missed two shots at goal in quick succession.

Steyn also had an opportunity to extend his side's lead on the hour mark but his penalty attempt, from 55 metres out, was also off target.

The rest of the half was a war of attrition as both sides tried to gain the ascendancy but although the Wallabies spent large parts of the half camped inside the Boks' half, they committed a plethora of handling handling errors which proved costly in the end.

Steyn scored the first points of the half in the 76th minute when he landed a penalty from close quarters after the Wallabies were penalised for a ruck infringement and the pivot sealed the result when he slotted his second drop goal in the game's closing stages.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Pens:  Steyn 4
Drop goals:  Steyn 2

For Australia:
Try:  Sio
Con:  Foley
Pen:  Foley
Yellow Card:  Folau

South Africa:  15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Stephen Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Willie le Roux, 23 Lionel Mapoe

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 James Slipper, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Scott Fardy, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Tevita Kuridrani, 23 Sefa Naivalu

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Johnny Lacey (Ireland), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Wallabies win scrap with South Africa

Australia ended a run of six Test defeats by coming from behind to beat South Africa 23-17 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.

Tries from Warren Whiteley and Johan Goosen handed South Africa a double-digit lead, but the boot of Bernard Foley and an Adam Coleman try meant that South Africa only led by a point at half-time, up 14-13.

A Foley penalty then put the Wallabies ahead for the first time before his solo try edged Australia further into the lead.

And despite a Morné Steyn penalty putting the Springboks within a converted try of the win, they couldn't find the breakthrough in the closing stages, to make it back-to-back losses for Allister Coetzee's side.

Considering the two teams' form prior to Brisbane this fixture was unsurprisingly scrappy, with handling errors aplenty.

Questions regarding what South Africa are trying to achieve tactically on attack will continue to persist as long as they only score tries off turnovers, as was the case here in Brisbane.

And while the Wallabies attack at times showed plenty of rhythm, that also disappeared for large swathes of the match.  Both outfits are truthfully some way off their best, and will be underdogs for their respective fixtures against Argentina and New Zealand next weekend.

Some credit must go to South Africa for the way they made the most of Wallaby mistakes for their two tries in the first half, pouncing on the errors and turning them into points.

A Jantjies break produced the first score, Whiteley finishing off a sustained attack by going over from metres out after great runs in the build-up from Faf de Klerk and Oupa Mohoje.

Foley cut the lead to four with a first penalty before the Wallabies' intent in attack, especially from Quade Cooper with an incisive break at the touchline, came to nothing and turned into a disaster.

Adriaan Strauss produced an athletic interception and from there the Springboks broke, Goosen winning the race to Jantjies' chip ahead to score under the posts, making it 14-3 with the conversion.

That scoreline felt harsh on the Wallabies and they eventually crossed themselves through lock Coleman, finishing in the corner from a looping Foley pass as Bryan Habana failed to haul in a possible interception.  Foley's touchline conversion made it 10-14.

And another penalty from the Wallaby number ten cut the gap to just a point at the break, with Jantjies pushing an effort of his own to the right to leave South Africa ahead 14-13 at half-time.

Not long after Eben Etzebeth had run back onto the field for the second half he was soon trudging off it again, yellow carded for cynical play in his 50th Test after a break from Samu Kerevi.  Foley converted the resulting penalty to put Australia ahead for the first time at 16-14.

A prolonged TMO referral then eventually denied Kerevi a finish in the corner, the big Reds centre's knee touching the whitewash milliseconds before he appeared to have done enough to ground the ball despite the tackle of Goosen.

Finely poised for over 20 minutes after that, with South Africa riding out the sin-bin period, both sides were guilty of squandering chances either by failing to make the most of overlaps or through turnovers.

Foley stopped the rot.  Shaping to pass wide in the middle of the field before cutting in-between Jantjies and Pieter-Steph du Toit to score by the posts for a sharp finish.

Steyn cut the gap to six with a penalty to set up an intriguing final few minutes, but South Africa couldn't find the score required, giving Australia a long-awaited victory and their first of the year.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Coleman, Foley
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 3

For South Africa:
Tries:  Whiteley, Goosen
Cons:  Jantjies 2
Pen:  Steyn
Yellow Card:  Etzebeth

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Tevita Kuridrani, 23 Drew Mitchell

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Steven Kitshoff, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Lionel Mapoe

Referee:  Nigel Owens
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes, Pascal Gauzère
TMO:  Ben Skeen

Last-gasp Wallabies edge Boks

Australia overturned a 13-point deficit to beat South Africa 24-20 in an enthralling Rugby Championship contest in Brisbane on Saturday.

The TMO awarded Tevita Kuridrani a try after the final hooter, which capped a brave comeback by the hosts, who had trailed 20-7 early in the second half.

The sides scored a try apiece late in the first half via Adam Ashley-Cooper and Eben Etzebeth but two early penalties from the boot of Handré Pollard meant the Boks led 13-7 at the interval, which was a fair reflection of the opening 40 minutes.

The South African scrum was on top and their loose trio were doing well at the breakdown, although Israel Folau proved a threat every time he touched the ball for the hosts.

Test debutant Jesse Kriel announced his arrival on the international scene with a fabulous try early in the second period but the visitors were made to do a huge amount of defending as Australia swung the territory and possession stats around.

A change in front-row personnel on both sides ended the Springboks' set-piece dominance and the tandem threat of Michael Hooper and David Pocock helped the Wallabies hang onto the ball in the last half hour.

Hooper muscled his way over in the dying minutes to set up a grandstand finish, before Kuridrani managed to get the tip of the ball down on the chalk to snatch victory in dramatic style.

Two poor kicks by Pollard made for a poor start for the Boks but a great steal on the deck from Bismarck du Plessis relieved the pressure.  Those early incidents would be repeated a few times as Pollard blew hot and cold, while Du Plessis made a big contribution.

Pollard's willingness to take the ball to the line did however earn the visitors the first penalty but the young fly-half hit the upright with what should have been an easy kick.

South Africa let another chance slip after a strong scrum set up a break for Damian de Allende which put Australia under pressure.  The centre should have given it to JP Pietersen out wide and a few phases later Pollard was left red-faced when he knocked on with the visitors pressing.

The first points came on the quarter-hour mark as Pollard landed a penalty after Hooper was adjudged to be offside in a marginal call.

Scott Higginbotham would have been angry with himself for rushing a chip ahead with the Springbok midfield exposed, leaving the enterprising hosts scoreless at the end of the first quarter.

The Boks were dealt a massive blow when Victor Matfield was forced off with a hamstring injury but Lood de Jager was impressive on his return from a long injury layoff.

Under-pressure Jannie du Plessis and co. also came good to win a scrum penalty that allowed Pollard to double the lead.

Quade Cooper missed a long-range penalty against Bismarck du Plessis at a ruck but the Wallabies took the lead thanks to a slick backline move with half time approaching.

Matt Giteau and Cooper combined before Ashley-Cooper came in on the angle to collect Cooper's inside ball and slip between Pollard and De Allende for a great try.  Cooper converted to put the Aussies 7-6 up.

South Africa would head into the break in front, however, thanks to an equally good try.  Bryan Habana did well to flick Pollard's chip ahead back for Willie le Roux, who drew three defenders before offloading to Etzebeth, who crashed over in the corner.  Pollard found the target with the touchline conversion.

The Wallabies survived a late onslaught thanks to ruck steal on their own tryline to keep the gap at six points heading into the changing rooms.

Will Genia was an injury casualty when the teams reemerged and his replacement, Nick Phipps, missed a tackle as the Boks grabbed a second try.

Credit to Kriel though, as he showed wonderful feet and pace to zigzag past three defenders after latching onto Habana's offload.  Pollard landed another excellent conversion to put the Boks well ahead at 20-7.

Cooper cut the deficit to 10 points when the otherwise excellent Ruan Pienaar was penalised for offside but the Wallaby fly-half was way off target after Adriaan Strauss was pinged for dropping a knee to the ground at scrum time.

Rob Simmons lost the ball in contact just short of the line but the Wallabies were rewarded for their sustained pressure after a series of strong scrums set up Hooper's try as he beat the tackle of Oupa Mohoje to get the ball over the whitewash.

Giteau added the conversion but missed a long-range effort that would have pulled the Wallabies level.

Australian skipper Stephen Moore made a brave decision to go for the corner from a last-minute penalty before Kuridrani was able to dot the ball down for a millisecond, despite the best efforts of Schalk Burger to hold it up.

Man of the match:  A few candidates on both sides but we'll go for Israel Folau, whose counter-attacking gave the Springboks zero respite and limited their exit options.

Moment of the match:  The game looked lost but Kuridrani's try at the death gave Wallaby coach Michael Chieka a win in his first Test on home soil.

Villain of the match:  No nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, Hooper, Kuridrani
Cons:  Cooper 2, Giteau
Pen:  Cooper

For South Africa:
Tries:  Etzebeth, Kriel
Cons:  Pollard 2
Pens:  Pollard 2

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Will Skelton, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 James Horwill, 20 David Pocock, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Drew Mitchell.

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Lodewyk de Jager, 20 Teboho Mohoje, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.

Venue:  Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Springbok late show downs Wallabies

South Africa were forced to come from behind to seal a 28-10 Rugby Championship victory over Australia in Cape Town on Saturday.

Trailing by two points with ten minutes to play, the home side scored three tries and a drop-goal in the dying minutes to secure the bonus-point win.

Skipper Jean de Villiers touched down twice to add to tries from Marcel Coetzee and Pat Lambie as South Africa outscored Australia four tries to one.

The Springboks were unable to put a glut of possession and territory to good use in the first half, allowing Australia to take a 10-5 lead into the interval.

Poor kicking, basic handling errors and the failure to simply pass the ball when facing clear overlaps repeatedly cut the Boks momentum, wasting a plethora of front-foot ball.

What had been a frustrating evening for the Newlands faithful turned to pure joy however as the Boks' bench came to the rescue and the men in green finally executed in the closing stages.

The hosts dominated the early exchanges and were first to cross the whitewash via a rolling maul, but seldom threatened to break through the Wallaby defence through any other method.

Australia needed just four minutes to score their ten points, including a try from deep inside their own half scored by wing Adam Ashley-Cooper.

The hosts showed their intent to keep ball in hand right from the start, taking it through 17 phases in the opening salvo but the ease with which Australia were able to defend the predictable attacking lines would have been a concern for Bok coach Heyneke Meyer.

After Willie le Roux and Cornal Henrdricks combined to get the hosts into the Aussie 22, South Africa were rewarded for turning down a kickable penalty in favour of a line-out as they set up a textbook maul to crash over after 13 minutes, Coetzee the man with his hands on the ball.

Australia got on the board via a penalty against Adriaan Strauss for taking out a man without the ball as Bernard Foley made amends for an earlier miss.

The visitors took the lead with try against the run of play as Tevita Kuridrani — who looked dangerous whenever he touched the ball — bust through the double tackle of Byran Habana and Handre Pollard to race clear before offloading to Ashley-Cooper, who finished in the corner.

Foley added the extras from the touchline to put the Wallabies up 10-5 just before the half-hour mark.

That's how the scores would stay as the Boks again turned down an easy penalty in favour of an attacking line-out.  The gamble didn't pay off the second time as the ball was lost at the back of the maul.

Pollard score the first points of the second half for the Boks after a ruck offence from the visitors, cutting the deficit to two points.

Pat Lambie should have given the Boks the lead with a penalty from dead in front but sliced his kick to leave his team trailing with 15 minutes to play.

After his team-mates had twice wasted overlaps on the outside, Lambie finally put the hosts in front with a drop-goal in the 71st minute.

Hendricks looked to have fluffed another golden chance after Jan Serfontein's break but De Villiers collected Bismarck du Plessis's pop pass to score the corner and give South Africa some breathing room.  Lambie missed the conversion though, meaning at 16-10, Australia were still within striking distance.

But the the last nine minutes saw one-way traffic as the Wallaby defence fell apart.

First Lambie stepped his way over for try number three before De Villiers rubbed salt into the Wallaby wounds with the fourth in the final minute off Victor Matfield's pass after Cobus Reinach broke clear.

Man of the match:  Although on the losing side, Tevita Kuridrani deserves this gong for an impressive carrying performance at outside centre.  Jean de Villiers and Duane Vermeulen deserve mentions but the Wallaby back was a cut above at Newlands.

Moment of the match:  The Wallabies looked set to pinch another result until De Villiers' first try opened the flood gates.

Villain of the match:  No nasty stuff to report

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Coetzee, De Villiers 2, Lambie
Conversion:  Lambie
Penalty:  Pollard
Drop Goals:  Lambie

For Australia:
Try:  Ashley-Cooper
Conversion:  Foley
Penalty:  Foley

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handrè Pollard, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Tebo Mohoje, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 JP Pietersen

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 James Horwill, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nic White, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Rob Horne.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Horne late show sinks Springboks

A late converted try from Rob Horne saw the Wallabies score their first win of the Rugby Championship as they came from behind to beat South Africa 24-23 at Patersons Stadium in Perth.

It went right down to the wire as the Boks, who had led for 38 minutes of the second-half were left to lick their wounds ahead of facing New Zealand.

Horne's try had to be converted by Bernard Foley however, and he made no mistake late on as the Wallabies bounce back from that Auckland loss.

The Wallabies came out of the blocks with real intent as they immediately reclaimed the kick-off via Folau's impressive leap, which ultimately led to Matt Toomua drawing a defender in a resulting play to send over the full-back for the opening try.  Recalled fly-half Foley missed the conversion.

South Africa had to wake up and fast and fortunately for them they did as number eight Duane Vermeulen pounced at the breakdown to earn Morne Steyn the chance to land three points.  Steyn, in for Handre Pollard, made no mistake as the Boks cut the deficit to two points on six minutes.

More encouragement for Heyneke Meyer came six minutes later when Cornal Hendricks finished off quick hands down the line to push South Africa into the lead.  But like Foley earlier, Steyn could not add the extra two as the visitors now had a 5-8 advantage.

Foley levelled matters soon after when centurion Bryan Habana was pinged at the breakdown as the absorbing Test match unfolded with a nip and tuck feel.

South Africa's physical presence was beginning to tell though and when two further Steyn penalties — the latter coming after good running from Habana — meant that with a Foley shot twelve minutes from the interval, the scoreline was 11-14 to the Boks as the teams went in.

The tight affair continued after the turnaround as Foley's three points a minute into the half for Willie le Roux's side entry was followed up by Steyn pushing his men back in front after a Wallaby scrum offence.  One sensed the pattern would continue right until the end in Perth.

14-17 would soon become 14-20 at Patersons Stadium on 49 minutes when the Springbok scrum continued to banish the horrible memories of Salta, with Steyn again on target.

For the next ten minutes the visitors were determined to win the territorial battle and they did just that as Folau twice sliced his responses with just five metres gained.  Ewen McKenzie would have been wary of the clock ticking down while his team was stuck in their own 22.

Further worries arrived when replacement James Horwill failed to roll away, thus handing Steyn a shot for a third straight three point effort.

Momentum would swing once again just after the hour mark, however, when Habana was shown a yellow card by George Clancy for an adjudged high tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper.  And from that card, the Wallabies would go close to scoring as replacement Pek Cowan thought he had scored only for obstruction being called.

Fortunately for the Wallabies they would soon get the consolation of three points which made it a one-score game once again at 17-23 in Perth.

And with time running out and Habana now back on the field, it would take replacement Kurtley Beale, centre Tevita Kuridrani and that man Folau to combine before Horne did the rest, stepping Steyn to allow Foley the kick for victory.

Man of the match:  When he gets the ball things happen.  Israel Folau scored one and had a big hand in the match-winner for Horne.  Simply too good at times.

Moment of the match:  The yellow card for Bryan Habana gave the Wallabies extra momentum but it was their impressive bench that proved the difference, with Kurtley Beale, Scott Higginbotham, Pek Cowan and Matt Hodgson impressing.

Villain of the match:  Test match rugby is won on small margins and had Morne Steyn not missed touch late on, the Boks probably would have won this game.  He won't be happy on the flight to New Zealand.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Folau, Horne
Con:  Foley
Pen:  Foley 4

For South Africa:
Try:  Hendricks
Pen:  Steyn 6

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 James Horwill, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Matt Hodgson, 22 Nic White, 23 Kurtley Beale.

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (capt), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Damian de Allende.

Venue:  Patersons Stadium, Perth
Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Andrew Cole

Boks win without bonus-point

Out-muscled and out-thought, Ewen McKenzie's Wallabies sunk to another dismal loss by 28-8 against a rampant South Africa on Saturday.

The humbling of a half-time team-talk on the field in front of a gleeful Newlands crowd underlined how far Australia have fallen — McKenzie overseeing his fourth loss since taking over as head coach.

The former Reds boss has spoken frequently after recent losses about the need for a better execution from his defence, but in a three-minute blip the game was lost as first Adriaan Strauss and Zane Kirchner found their way to the line.

Certainly the Wallabies tightened up their game in the second-half, their public dressing down adding some resolve as Will Genia made a bright introduction off the bench.

This though was South Africa's day, and by some distance.  Jannie du Plessis and Morné Steyn both celebrated their 50th caps with accomplished performances.

The brute power from the South African starting pack was dominant enough early on to create the gulf on the scoreboard, before the bulk of Bismarck du Plessis and Juandré Kruger were rolled out later on.  That level of physicality will be essential next weekend when South Africa take on New Zealand.

The Springboks put their own torment in Auckland behind them by carrying on from where they left off in Brisbane — proving too clever and too powerful for the Wallabies in a tearaway first half when the score could have been even greater than the 23-3 lead they held going into the break.

The pre-match touting of South Africa's scrum as a key weapon rung true after only three minutes, when Steyn opted for the corner after James Slipper was beaten by Du Plessis.

A crossing penalty against the Boks brought Australia out of their half and yielded the first points for Lealiifano, converting a penalty from the left to give the visitors the lead.

Steyn countered with a penalty after Wallaby captain James Horwill was penalised for not rolling away — the Stade Français fly-half reaching the 600-point mark in Test rugby.

Eben Etzebeth's burst then created the platform for South Africa's first try, the Wallabies infringing to set up an attacking lineout in the corner for the hosts.  Fourie du Preez — back in the side in place of Ruan Pienaar — fired a flat pass through to the other change to the Springboks, Adriaan Strauss, who crashed over.

The Boks followed it up with a sucker punch.  Jean de Villiers' wide pass freed up JJ Englebrecht and the young Bulls centre sucked in the remaining Wallaby defenders to free Zane Kirchner, who scythed his way past Israel Folau to score South Africa's second try in as many minutes.

Steyn's second penalty on the 20-minute mark then meant South Africa had scored as many points as minutes passed.

Michael Hooper's sin-binning further complicated the Wallabies afternoon after he upended Eben Etzebeth — Australia barely surviving with a full compliment, let alone with a depleted side.

A third penalty from Steyn extended the Springboks' lead to 20 points as they ran Australia ragged, an unfortunate slip for de Villiers cutting out another dangerous break with the Wallabies winning a penalty at the breakdown.

No stranger to discrepancies, Flip van der Merwe saw yellow at the start of the second half for an unnecessary forearm on Joe Tomane to give the Wallabies some momentary respite, at least when it came to numbers on the park if not the scoreboard.

Through a combination of South Africa dropping their intensity and the Wallabies building confidence, the third quarter finished scoreless with the Springboks comfortably adrift.

It was an impressive showing of persistence from Australia attacking in the South African 22 that saw Duane Vermeulen also yellow carded, but when the Wallabies needed to execute deep in South African territory they were once again found wanting.

South Africa were slack themselves — dropping passes and missing the intensity that served them so well in the opening 40 as the clock wound down.  A persistent choice to kick the ball away rather than run from deep, in spite of their lead, gradually frustrated the Capetonian crowd.

They duly erupted when Willie Le Roux beat Chris Feauai-Sautia on the outside to cross in the right-hand corner, the lead stretching to 25 points and restoring order to proceedings.

With a try bonus-point in sight, the Springboks botched a five-metre lineout and then Siya Kolisi was penalised for holding on short of the Wallaby line.  Should New Zealand go on to take maximum points against Argentina later on in La Plata, the missed chances will come back to haunt them.

Feauai-Sautia did seal a consolation try from a clever Cooper cross-field kick, but it meant little.  Australia, at their lowest, have their own mountain to climb — one considerably larger than the Table looming over Newlands.

Man of the Match:  Welcome back Fourie du Preez. The Suntory Goliath scrum-half was at his vintage best.

Moment of the Match:  The second blow in a one-two punch from Zane Kirchner has the Springboks out of sight.

Villain of the Match:  Forearms are a hot topic after Ma'a Nonu's two weeks ago.  Flip Van Der Merwe's on Tomane was careless.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Strauss, Kirchner, Le Roux
Con:  Steyn 2
Pen:  Steyn 3
Yellow:  Van der Merwe (39 mins), Vermuelen (66 mins)

For Australia:
Try:  Feauai-Sautia
Pen:  Lealiifano
Yellow:  Hooper (27 mins), Timani (75 mins)

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Juandré Kruger, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Ruan Pienaar 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Will Genia, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Chris Feauai-Sautia.

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Pascal Gauzère (France)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

Springboks end Brisbane hoodoo

South Africa claimed their first ever win at Suncorp Stadium — and their first in Brisbane for 42 years — by beating Australia 38-12 in their Rugby Championship clash on Saturday.

The results means the Springboks will head to New Zealand next week at the top of the standings, one point above the All Blacks by virtue of a four-try bonus point.

Off the platform of a dominant scrum, South Africa led from start to finish, outscoring their hosts four tries to none.

The Boks were 16-6 ahead at half-time, and Australia were still in touch until the hour mark, but a disastrous last quarter for Ewen McKenzie's men saw the Boks race clear and leave the Wallabies without a single Rugby Championship point after three games under their new coach.

The Springboks got off to a great start via a try from Coenie Oosthuizen — on as a blood replacement — with a powerful drive off the back of a line-out.  Morné Steyn's conversion had the Boks seven points up after as many minutes.

That early momentum was lost however when Willem Alberts saw yellow for a deliberate knock down.  Christian Lealiifano slotted Australia's first points from the penalty but, after Will Genia tried to kick the ball out the back of South Africa's scrum, Steyn could reply in kind to leave the Boks 10-3 up.

A period of sustained pressure from the Wallabies resulted in just three points — Jean de Villiers penalised for slowing the ball at a ruck — and the visitors could again cancel out the Wallaby score when Quade Cooper was caught offside and Steyn split the uprights.

Another Steyn three-pointer on 34 minutes — after Israel Folau held on under pressure from Duane Vermeulen — gave the Springboks a 10-point lead with half-time looming large.

The home side had a chance to pull points back before the break but Genia chose to hunt a try from a line-out instead, but his pack didn't deliver.  In fact, the Wallabies were lucky not to be trailing by more after Bismarck du Plessis knocked-on a metre from the line, before Steyn sent an effort at goal wide.

South Africa would nevertheless have been happy with their lead at the interval.

The Wallabies made the better start to the second period, forcing an early penalty at the breakdown which Lealiifano duly converted to keep his team in touch at 16-9.

But like South Africa in the first-half, the initiative was lost due to a yellow card, this time for Michael Hooper's tip tackle on Bryan Habana.  Steyn sent the penalty over to restore the 10-point gap with half an hour left to play.

The kicking duel continued as Lealiifano hit the target after Flip van der Merwe shoulder checked Adam-Ashley Cooper, who was chasing a kick ahead.

The Boks would land the killer blow on the hour mark though when De Villiers scored a wonderful try.  Habana burst down the touchline and chipped ahead, with the wing taken out by Cooper en route.  But Juandre Kruger claimed the ball one-handed before it was recycled to the speeding De Villiers.

Steyn missed the conversion but the damage was done and the Wallabies would have to look for an extra gear to pull this one out of the fire.

Instead it was the Springboks who cut loose with Zane Kirchner and Willie le Roux combining to send the former over in the corner before the latter touched down in the same place just minutes later to seal a convincing bonus-point win.

Man of the match:  A pat on the back for the entire Springbok pack, who outmuscled their opposition as required by the Heyneke Meyer blueprint for victory.  Duane Vermeulen and Francois Louw were excellent once again but Bismarck du Plessis was our pick on his return to the starting XV, standing out with his sheer strength and impact at the breakdown.

Moment of the match:  The Wallabies were very much still in the game until the Jean de Villiers try took the wind out of their sails.

Villain of the match:  Lots of niggle, but no real nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Pens:  Lealiifano 4
Yellow card:  Hooper

For South Africa:
Tries:  Oosthuizen, De Villiers, Kirchner, Le Roux
Cons:  Steyn 3
Pens:  Steyn 4
Yellow card:  Alberts

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Adam-Ashley Cooper, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 James O'Connor, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill (captain), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Jake Schatz, 21 Nic White, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Jesse Mogg.

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Juandré Kruger, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Springboks rule at Loftus

South Africa bounced back from consecutive defeats on the road with a comprehensive 31-8 Rugby Championship victory over Australia at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.

The Springboks led 14-3 at the interval but the Wallabies were lucky not to be much further behind.  Two tight calls from the TMO meant the home side did not have the four-try bonus point by half-time, but Heyneke Meyer's men secured a full house of points after the break as Bryan Habana bagged a hat-trick to add to earlier scores from Zane Kirchner and Francois Louw.

Mike Harris touched down in the last quarter for the Wallabies, but the horse had already bolted.  Once Kirchner had scored the first try, the visitors never looked like getting back into the contest.

While Bok fans will certainly sleep better after their side showed the most attacking prowess of the Meyer era so far, their enthusiasm should be held in check by the fact that this was not Australia's strongest team by any stretch of the imagination (and Robbie Deans' squad looks to have been even further depleted by injuries as they head to Argentina after Adam Ashley-Cooper was taken from the field on a stretcher).

The first quarter ended scoreless after Berrick Barnes missed an early chance to open the scoring before his opposite number Johan Goosen also failed with his only two shots at goal.

But the Boks showed their positive intentions by turning down another penalty — won thanks to an impressive rolling maul — in the 21st minute, opting rather for an attacking line-out.  The decision paid off as, after a few phases of pressure, Zirchner did well to twist and turn his way over for the first try.

Ruan Pienaar took over the kicking duties and provided the extra two points from the tee but Goosen showed why he was chosen at ten with a scintillating line-break that took him to within inches of the line.  The TMO confirmed that he was short of his first Test try, but Bok fans would have nevertheless been chuffed to see their fly-half attacking with ball in hand.

A well-taken try from short range from Habana and another conversion from Pienaar doubled the lead as the Wallabies struggled to contain their hosts.

The Wallabies got on the scoreboard as the half drew to a close when Kurtley Beale split the uprights but the visitors where lucky not to go further behind when Kirchner bolted into the same corner as his earlier score.  The full-back's heal clipped the touchline though thanks to a try-saving tackle from Ashley-Cooper which left the Wallaby centre out cold.

Australia's woes, especially at the breakdown, continued after the break and the visitors were reduced to fourteen men in the 53rd minute when James Slipper was sent to the bin for his transgressions on the deck.

His absence proved to be extremely costly for the tourists with the Boks adding two more tries while he watched from the sidelines.

Louw, who was excellent once again, was rewarded for his efforts as he scored from the back of a rolling maul.

Six minutes later Habana added his second after some quick thinking from the speedster, who took a quick throw-in to hooker Adriaan Strauss, who also had clarity of mind when he pulled in the defenders and offloaded to the flyer.

Harris scored in the right hand corner as the Wallabies refused to go down quietly but Habana had the last say when he raced home for his third touchdown after Louw took a gap and sent the winger on his way to his 46th Test try in the 79th minute.

Man of the Match:  There were handful of candidates in green with the home loose trio doing very well, but you can't look further than the hat-trick hero Bryan Habana, who seems to have found his mojo again and had the fans at his former home ground out of their seats.

Moment of the match:  It might not have come from a classic bolt down the touchline, but Habana's first try was the product of the Boks' willingness to keep the ball moving (and the veteran wings knack for finding gap).  It put the hosts 14-0 up and the Wallabies looked beaten for all money.

Villian of the match:  No nasty stuff to report

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Kirchner, Habana 3, Louw
Con:  Pienaar 3

For Australia:
Try:  Harris
Pens:  Beale

Yellow card:  Slipper (53rd min — ruck infringements)

The teams:

South African:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Pat Cilliers, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Marcell Coetzee, 20 Elton Jantjies, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Pat Lambie.

Australia:  15 Berrick Barnes, 14 Dominic Shipperley, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Radike Samo, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Liam Gill, 20 Brett Sheehan, 21 Mike Harris 22 Anthony Fainga'a.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), Greg Garner (England)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Wallabies prevail in Perth

Australia bagged their first win in the Rugby Championship after seeing off South Africa 26-19 at Perth's Patersons Stadium on Saturday.

Both sides desperately needed a win to have any chance of catching the All Blacks in the race for the trophy, and were under pressure to deliver.

With the scores locked at 19-19, the Wallabies showed more composure and celebrated a Ben Alexander try in the 70th minute that ultimately secured a much-needed victory for the hosts.

As for the Springboks, who led 13-6 at half-time, it's back to the drawing board as they face an even tougher assignment against the All Blacks next weekend.

It was Australia's fifth straight win over the South Africans and moves the Wallabies off the bottom of the Rugby Championship standings and above newcomers Argentina.  South Africa didn't leave Perth empty-handed though after securing a losing bonus point.

Victory for the home side may have come at a cost, however, as they suffered extensive injuries — most notably to that of captain Will Genia who was forced from the field in some distress.

The visitors started the match with a roar and hiss, putting several eight-plus phases together before pivot Morne Steyn made up for an early missed drop-goal attempt with a well-struck penalty to open the scoring in the third minute.

Berrick Barnes leveled proceedings with a three-pointer of his own, but the Boks hit back with a try after flyer Bryan Habana crashed over from close range and South Africa were well on top at 13-3 following Steyn's converson and a 55m penalty shot from his namesake Frans.

Barnes closed the gap slightly with his second successful penalty attempt, and the Boks did well to keep Australia scoreless for 10 minutes when prop Beast Mtawarira was sin-binned for foul play.

The Wallabies were a different kettle of fish after the break and continued to bank three-pointers whenever they ventured into South Africa's half.  The alarm bells started ringing in the Springbok camp ain the 56th minute after Wallabies super-sub Scott Higginbotham burst through for a try just two minutes after coming onto the field.

Barnes slotted over the conversion to give his team the lead for the first time in the match (16-13).

Long-range penalty specialist Frans Steyn launched another penalty kick from near the halfway line to put South Africa level (16-16), before Barnes' reliable boot once again put Australia in front.

Morne Steyn gave Bok supporters a glimmer of hope after tying the scores yet again (19-19) in the 60th minute.  But South Africa had no answer for Alexander, who made a 15m charge down the blindside to touch down in the left-hand corner — confirmed by the TMO.

Barnes converted from the sideline, It was to the be the last score of the game, a late surge for an equalising try by the Springboks ending with a penalty to Australia in the dying seconds.

Man of the match:  Lock Sitaleki Timani was named the official man of the match, but we felt the unerring accuracy of Berrick Barnes — who was six-from-six with the boot — takes the cake.

Moment of the match:  Ben Alexander's inspirational late try not only lifted Australia to a crucial victory, but also easeed pressure on coach Robbie Deans.

Villain of the match:  The Boks can thank their lucky stars they didn't concede a single point after Beast Mtawarira's yellow card after he ran into Kurtley Beale off the ball.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Higginbotham, Alexander
Cons:  Barnes 2
Pens:  Barnes 4

For South Africa:
Try:  Habana
Con:  M Steyn
Pens:  M Steyn 2, F Steyn 2

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Dominic Shipperley, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia (c), 8 Radike Samo, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 James Slipper, 18 Scott Higginbotham, 19 Liam Gill, 20 Nick Phipps, 21 Mike Harris, 22 Anthony Fainga'a.

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jean de Villiers (c), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Francois Hougaard 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Pat Cilliers, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Francois Louw, 20 Johan Goosen, 21 Pat Lambie, 22 Lwazi Mvovo.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)