South Africa turned on the style in Sydney on Saturday to beat the Wallabies in Australia for the first time in nine years.
Walking off the field as 24-8 victors, the world champion Springboks did a complete 360 from the team that lost 25-17 to the same opponents last week.
Manning up physically, the Springboks’ defence was at its hardegat best, while they also kept the scoreboard ticking over.
In fact, South Africa dominated from start to finish, with Australia only getting some attacking ball possession in the Springboks’ half on the half-hour mark as the visitors enjoyed 65 percent of the territory on the day.
Still guilty of kicking too much at times, the Springboks made better use of their scoring opportunities this time around, outscoring the Aussies four tries to one to grab a bonus-point win.
The first of those came in the eighth minute already, with Damian de Allende crashing over under the sticks after getting a final pass from Eben Etzebeth, who spun out of a Wallaby tackle a couple of metres from the tryline.
🗣️ Springbok reaction from Sydney: “It has been a tough week for us and I’d like to thank our fans for sticking with us” - more here: https://t.co/4cHT2W2tfm#StrongerTogether #StrongerForever #AUSvRSA #CastleRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/iWM4U7V0on
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 3, 2022
Despite their dominance, South Africa only led 7-3 after the Wallabies had converted a penalty with one minute to go before half time.
That’s when 19-year-old Paarliet Canaan Moodie successfully chased down a good box kick from Jaden Hendrikse to catch the ball from under the nose of Marika Koroibete and sprint home for 30 metres (12-3).
It was a quickfire double for the Boks as they then scored three minutes after the break via Franco Mostert in the corner after some good interplay by almost the hele span (17-3).
💪 How it happened: The Boks bounced back in style to win their first Test against the @wallabies in Australia in nine years – match report: https://t.co/WbXuO1KFQN#StrongerTogether #StrongerForever #AUSvRSA #CastleRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/BrDHw51MYP
With 10 minutes to go, the Springboks put the final nail in the Wallabies’ coffin when they used the full width of the field from right to left, with Willie le Roux giving the final pass to Makazole Mapimpi (24-3). When Mapimpi pushed Koroibete after scoring, a helse free-for-all broke out and the Bok wing was yellow carded.
The Wallabies then added a late consolation try via Pete Samu, but it was the Boks who had already gotten their revenge for the defeat the week before.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za