South Africa's Handre Pollard is halted by the Australian defence © Getty Images

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Matches: South Africa 28 - 10 Australia

Gritty, courageous and disciplined Wallabies defence - praised as "awesome" and "outstanding" by rival coaches - could only hold on for so long.

The spirited Australians were credited with 250 tackles at Newlands, among the biggest counts seen in Test rugby, as South Africa were repelled for 70 minutes of an absorbing Rugby Championship encounter. But once the dam wall broke - cracked open by a Pat Lambie field goal after 29 relentless phases for a 11-10 lead - there was no way back for Australia on Saturday night.

Boks skipper Jean de Villiers dived over for two of the three tries that followed to make good on his team's plan to break down the energy-sapped tourists late in the 28-10 win.

"It came down to that and once we got that momentum and the crowd got behind us we were unstoppable at stages," de Villiers said. "It was probably one of the best 10-minute periods I've been involved in. I don't think it was the opposition that was the issue there. It was a special performance. I'd rate it among the top 10 (in his 101 Test career)."

Tireless Wallabies flanker Scott Fardy led the way throughout, tackling and stealing, and reactivated hooker Saia Fainga'a stepped up brilliantly and ran himself into the ground. "Our tackling had been outstanding in the first 60," coach Ewen McKenzie said.

Centre Tevita Kuridrani, who set up Adam Ashley-Cooper's try, was a constant thorn in the Boks' side with 16 tackle-shedding runs and two line breaks. But South Africa mentor Heyneke Meyer felt Australia's travel schedule, landing in Cape Town on Monday night, caught up with them.

"I thought we played some great rugby at times but their defence was awesome," he said. "I thought it was an unbelievable Test match. The ball-in-play time was probably the highest ever and both teams wanted to keep on attacking. It's tough playing away from home and it really worked for us in the last 20 minutes."

Schalk Burger, controversially overlooked for a starting spot for rookie flanker Oupa Mohoje, that brought the race quota debate into the spotlight, was a barometer for the Boks. He replaced Mohoje with 25 minutes left and was a key momentum changer.

"I thought a couple of guys really got insulted by the media this week, that they got selected only on colour and I think the display showed that each were selected on merit and hopefully that's the last time we read something like that," de Villiers said.