The boot of flyhalf Morne Steyn once again carried South Africa to victory as they beat Australia 29-17 in their Tri-Nations test at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
Steyn kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Springboks with seven penalties and a drop goal, having scored a Tri-Nations record 31 points last weekend in the win over New Zealand.
Australia scored first through fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper in the second minute, but South Africa dominated the second quarter to lead 23-10 at the break.
The Wallabies got the only try of the second half, a fine individual effort by flyhalf Matt Giteau but they suffered through indiscipline.
Apart from the numerous penalties Australia conceded, referee Alain Rolland showed the yellow card to Giteau and flank Richard Brown in the closing stages of the first half.
Loose forward George Smith was also yellow-carded, in the 79th minute, with the Australians desperately defending their line.
Lock Victor Matfield scored South Africa’s only try after a neat grubber through by tighthead prop John Smit.
The Springboks, who beat New Zealand 31-19 in Durban last Saturday and 28-19 in Bloemfontein the previous weekend, have completed an unbeaten home leg of the Tri-Nations ahead of matches in Perth, Brisbane and Hamilton.
Australia tore into the Springboks at the start, winning a breakdown penalty which was kicked to touch. From the lineout, they spread the ball wide and Ashley-Cooper was able to evade the cover defence to score just inside the corner flag.
Giteau was on target with the conversion.
South Africa were on the scoreboard in the eighth minute as Steyn kicked a penalty and he soon followed up with two more as the Boks took a 9-7 lead.
Berrick Barnes then kicked over a drop goal for Australia but the 10-9 lead was short lived as they were penalised for killing the ball at a ruck and Steyn succeeded with a long-range penalty.
Springbok openside flank Heinrich Brussow then tore the ball off Australia captain Stirling Mortlock to turn over possession and create the space for Steyn to slot a drop goal.
The boot of captain Smit was the unlikely source of South Africa’s only try as his brilliant grubber went behind the Australian backline. Wing Lachlan Turner retreated but knocked on the bouncing ball, allowing Matfield to pounce and dive over the line.
South Africa led 20-10 and were in an ideal position to land the knockout blow when Giteau was sin-binned for crashing into Fourie du Preez off the ball with his forearm. Brown followed him off the field a minute later for offsides at a ruck.
Surprisingly, the Springboks just had a Steyn penalty to show for the 10 minutes Australia spent with 13 men either side of halftime.
The second half lacked the incident of the first 40 minutes, with Steyn picking up two more penalties.
Australia gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Giteau scored a sizzling individual try, cutting back inside after a scrum under the poles and jinking through to reach over and score in replacement flank Danie Rossouw’s tackle. – Reuters