Genia was in electric form throughout and was influential in three of his side's five tries © Getty Images

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Match Pack: Wallabies bounce back in style

Matches: Australia 39 - 20 South Africa

Players/Officials: Robbie Deans | Rocky Elsom | Will Genia | John Smit

Tournaments/Tours: Tri Nations

Teams: Australia | South Africa

Australia scrum-half Will Genia singled out his forwards for praise following their 39-20 win over South Africa in Saturday's Tri-Nations opener.

Genia was in electric form throughout, having a hand in three of Australia's five tries, but the 24-cap scrum-half has put his side's success down to the platform the forwards gave the backs. Dominating the scrum and the set-piece throughout, the tape of the game will make good viewing for Wallabies assistant coach Jim Williams.

"It was a great team performance and it's always good when you have forwards going forward as that provides the platform for our whole performance," Genia said. "We are very happy with the team effort and in particular our scrum and line-out were dominant. We had to absorb pressure and exert dominance and our work in defence was great. We are always looking to play our game on the front foot.

"Playing alongside my Reds team-mates is fantastic as it works well when you know the way each other play; but we need to gel together as a whole group to keep the momentum going. "

Meanwhile, Wallaby coach Robbie Deans was a relieved man after witnessing his side make amends for their shock 32-23 reverse against Samoa on Sunday. Deans - who opted to make seven changes to his side - sounded a note of caution to those left out of the matchday squad.

"The set piece was good, the scrumaging was good and importantly we got our shoulders down and we can start building some momentum, which these guys will be happy with," Deans said. "We were confident but you never presume, the boys adjusted their positions and we played some rugby this week.

"The boys who played last week were better for it and the guys who didn't probably got a shot over the bow. It was a step forward, but there's going to have be another one, we have a bit of time off now to refocus and work on some things before Eden Park where it will go up another notch."

For South Africa captain John Smit, his provided scant consolation after his pack was outmuscled and outmanoeuvred by a dominant Wallabies unit. Smit took positives from the performance and emphasised the need for his side to take their chances.

"We can take a few positives from the game - especially our performance in the second-half," Smit said. "However, it was quick tries which killed us as we were constantly playing catch up rugby. We will kick ourselves after giving away easy chances. The Wallabies attacked us in the scrum which is where their platform came from.

"We had chances in the first-half and away from home we needed to take those opportunities. However, both sides will want to improve in terms of accuracy. We need to take this experience as we know how easy it is when you keep the ball and how hard it is when you lose the ball so we will take a look at the game and see where we can improve before next week's clash with the All Blacks."