Australia 12 - 38 South Africa, Brisbane
Springboks embarrass Wallabies
September 7, 2013
Date/Time: Sep 7, 2013, 20:05 local, 10:05 GMT
Venue: Lang Park, Brisbane
Australia 12 - 38 South Africa
Attendance: 43715  Half-time: 6 - 16
Pens: Leali'ifano 4
Tries: de Villiers, Kirchner, le Roux, Oosthuizen
Cons: Steyn 3
Pens: Steyn 4
South Africa's Coenie Oosthuizen accepts team-mates' congratulations for a try, Australia v South Africa, The Rugby Championship, Mandela Challenge Plate, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, September 7, 2013
Coenie Oosthuizen got the Springboks off to a fast start
© Getty Images
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Match Analysis from Tom Hamilton

  • Man of the Match: The Boks were impressive from one through to 23 but Duane Vermeulen is just a colossus at No.8. While Willem Alberts and Francois Louw get plenty of headlines, Vermeulen stabilises everything at No.8 and the Wallabies failed to really get a hand on him in the whole game.
  • Key Moment: It was a matter of three tries in nine minutes which killed off the game. The Boks found some space in the Wallabies' defence and their clinical attacking play did the rest. The 19 points put the game beyond Australia's reach and you could feel the atmosphere in the Suncorp deflate.
  • Hero of the Game: Although he is now 32, Jean de Villiers is still absolutely class in the Boks' centres. He seems to hold the game on strings like a master puppeteer and calms those around him. He scored the first of the Boks' second-half tries and was always there to snuffle up ball and put his team-mates into the right areas of the pitch. It was a really impressive performance from the age-defying De Villiers.
  • Villain of the Game: Referee George Clancy had a mare of a game. Sin-binning Michael Hooper was the wrong decision, asking the TMO if 'there was any reason why I cannot award' Coenie Oosthuizen's effort in the fifth minute of the game was also a poor call. The yellow card Willem Alberts' received also looked harsh.
  • Talking Point: Where now for the Wallabies? They go to Perth next week to play Argentina and you feel they just have to win. They have had a dreadful run of form - winning just one of six Tests this year - and look low on confidence. Quade Cooper floundered at fly-half but is Matt Toomua the long-term answer? On the basis of his two performances against New Zealand, he is not yet the Test fly-half Australia require. Any honeymoon period for Ewen McKenzie is now a distant memory and the pressure will be on if they fall to the Pumas next Saturday.
  • Play of the Game: De Villiers' try was a thing of beauty. Bryan Habana kicked forward and even though he clattered into Quade Cooper, the play went on with Flip van der Merwe catching the loose ball. He winged it to Ruan Pienaar who put in De Villiers who cut the perfect line to dot the ball over the Wallabies' line. The Boks' next two tries were also impressive from a skill point-of-view, but De Villiers' effort gets our vote.

South Africa have defeated Australia for the first time at Suncorp Stadium, combining power in the forwards to dismantle the Wallabies in the set-piece and loose before slicing the hosts apart at the back end of the second half.

The Wallabies had won the seven previous Tests between the teams in Brisbane, including a 49-0 verdict in 2006, but they never threatened to maintain the hoodoo as they produced a limp performance that saw them defeated in every aspect of the game.

The Boks dominated the scrum, the collisions and the breakdown throughout to lay the platform for a four-tries-to-nil drubbing that gave the visitors their biggest win against the Wallabies on Australian soil, and their first win on the east coast in 14 matches since the code went professional in 1996. The greenhorn Wallabies pack sorely missed captain James Horwill as well as other sidelined enforcers, and the margin more than doubled the Springboks' previous best in Australia - 18-6 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1971.

The result means South Africa are now undefeated in nine Tests, while the Wallabies are still looking for a first Test win under Ewen McKenzie after previous humbling defeats by New Zealand in back-to-back Bledisloe Cup Tests. The Wallabies, now, have lost their past four Tests - their worst streak in four years.

The Wallabies had aimed to run the Springboks pack into the ground, but they were beaten badly at the breakdown and were consistently under pressure at scrum time before the South Africa backs lit the game up with a three-try blitz in eight minutes to blow the home side away midway through the second half. Australia were still in the contest at 19-12, despite having gone nowhere near scoring a try in the first hour, when Jean de Villiers started and finished a brilliant blindside raid. Ruan Pienaar and Willie le Roux then showed more special skills to put Zane Kirchner over four minutes later, and le Roux rubbed salt into the Wallabies' wounds by punishing a Quade Cooper turnover.

Cooper endured a miserable night on his long-awaited return to the No.10 jersey. He failed to spark Australia's under-pressure attack, and he gave away the penalty from which the Springboks stormed to an early lead with reserve prop Coenie Oosthuizen barging past him to score in the sixth minute. Israel Folau's move to fullback also failed to reap the rewards expected as the game-breaker was often ignored out wide, while the Boks impressive loose-forwards also forced a first-half penalty goal by trapping him after a kick-return.

Australia failed to get any attacking rhythm or momentum with the visitors' defence holding firm and their forwards forcing a string of penalties and turnovers at the breakdown - the area the in which Wallabies traditionally dominate. The Springboks also slowed down the game effectively, and they were helped by extra big-screen replays demanded by referee George Clancy.

Christian Leali'ifano scored Australia's only points through four three-pointers as they failed to capitalise on first-half attacking chances and the early sin-binning of flanker Willem Alberts. Michael Hooper was also yellow-carded in the second half after he pulled off a tip tackle on Bryan Habana, but the Boks wreaked their havoc when he returned to the fray.

© AAP

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