South Africa's Springboks ended a five match losing streak against Australia when they secured a 31-8 bonus point Rugby Championship victory over the Wallabies.
The Wallabies had a torrid night with injuries in Pretoria which saw Adam Ashley-Cooper being taken to hospital for concussion and the Australians finishing the match with 14 men after they exhausted their bench.
The victory is South Africa's second victory in the Rugby Championship as they only managed a draw against Argentina in Mendoza and lost to the All Blacks and Australia in their away matches.
The Springboks scored five tries in the match - three from winger Bryan Habana - but they had a tough night with the boot and missed almost 20 points in front of the 46663 strong crowd.
The result moves South Africa above Australia in the Rugby Championship standings but if New Zealand beat Argentina later this weekend they will win the Rugby Championship title.
The star of the match was Springbok winger Bryan Habana for his hat-trick which came through tries in the 29th, 61st, and 79th minutes and the other Bok tries were scored by fullback Zane Kirchner and flanker Francois Louw.
The Wallabies were left struggling for continuity after a raft of injuries - especially in its backline - but pulled a try back in the second half through replacement Mike Harris.
Young flyhalf Johan Goosen had a steady first start for South Africa after replacing hometown player Morne Steyn in Pretoria, linking well with his outside backs to help create the Springboks' two first-half tries.
South Africa moved to second in the tournament standings behind New Zealand.
Habana took his test tries tally against Australia to nine, overtaking the previous record of seven by winger Breyton Paulse as the Springboks benefited from an open, attacking game plan in perfect conditions at one of their favourite grounds on the highveld.
Having scrambled over from close range for his first, the Springboks' record tryscorer broke clear after a quick lineout he took himself to go 40 metres to score again in the second half. Habana capped South Africa's five-try victory when he finished off a long-range counterattack with a minute to go.
Fullback Kirchner touched down for South Africa's first in the 22nd and Louw barged over from a rolling maul in the 54th.
Harris scored in the right corner midway through the first half after clever work from Australia's new No. 10 Kurtley Beale, but Australia didn't get any closer than 26-8 as it struggled for possession and field position and Beale couldn't get the men outside him going.
The 20-year-old Goosen missed his first two kicks at goal to be pulled from kicking duties, but sparked the Springbok backline with the ball in hand for the two first-half tries.
The young 10 helped create the overlap for Kirchner to go in for the first points in the 22nd.
Goosen almost scored himself in the same right corner three minutes later after slicing through a gap between centres Adam Ashley-Cooper and Pat McCabe. McCabe's desperate cover tackle stopped him just short.
Habana went over after Goosen again threatened twice either side of the breakdown 10 metres out. Scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar eventually made the telling half-break around the fringe of a ruck and slipped a short pass for Habana to score with a sprawling dive.
Pienaar converted for 14-0 as Australia's backline struggled badly with injuries. McCabe, winger Digby Ioane, fullback Berrick Barnes and Ashley-Cooper all went off for treatment in the first 40, with Barnes and Ashley-Cooper having to be replaced permanently.
Beale gave Australia its only points of the half with a penalty from in front in the 35th after South Africa's forwards didn't roll away, but it was a brief respite for the Wallabies.
Pienaar hit the post in the 37th for his second miss as the Boks left at least 12 points begging in a dominant first half.
Ashley-Cooper was knocked unconscious in a last-ditch tackle on Kirchner just before halftime that saved another try.
The move was again inspired by Goosen, who sent captain Jean de Villiers away down the right before Kirchner was forced to step into touch by a brave effort from Ashley-Cooper just before he grounded the ball.
Louw scored after a maul from a lineout splintered the Australian forwards and left wing Ioane struggling to hold back the tide.
Habana scored his second try when he threw a quick lineout to hooker Adriaan Strauss who passed back to see the speedster burst clear from about 40 metres out and go in under the crossbar.
Australia responded five minutes later as Beale finally had good ball to work with deep in South Africa's territory.
He looped around cleverly, shrugged off a South African tackler and put replacement Harris away in the right corner.
But Habana scored his third with a minute to go when he benefited from a breakout to again use his pace to outrun Australia's cover defenders down the right wing.
Final Score South Africa 31 (14) Australia 8 (3)
Scorers
South Africa
Tries - Z.Kirchner, B. Habana 3, F. Louw
Pen -
Con - R. Pienaar 3
Drop -
Cards -
Australia
Tries - M. Harris
Pen - K. Beale
Con -
Drop -
Cards - J. Slipper (yellow)
Match Officials
Referee: A. Rolland (IRFU)
Assistant Ref 1: R. Poite (FFR)
Assistant Ref 2: G. Garner (RFU)
TMO: S. Veldsman (SARU)
Teams
South Africa
15. Zane Kirchner, 14. Bryan Habana, 13. Jaco Taute, 12. Jean de Villiers (c), 11. Francois Hougaard, 10. Johan Goosen, 9. Ruan Pienaar, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Willem Alberts, 6. Francois Louw, 5. Andries Bekker, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Adriaan Strauss, 1. Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16. Tiaan Liebenberg, 17. Pat Cilliers 18. Flip van der Merwe, 19. Marcell Coetzee, 20. Elton Jantjies, 21. Juan de Jongh, 22. Pat Lambie
Australia
15. Berrick Barnes, 14. Dominic Shipperley, 13. Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12. Pat McCabe, 11. Digby Ioane, 10. Kurtley Beale, 9. Nick Phipps, 8. Radike Samo, 7. Michael Hooper, 6. Dave Dennis, 5. Nathan Sharpe, 4. Kane Douglas, 3. Ben Alexander, 2. Tatafu Polota Nau, 1. Benn Robinson.
Reserves: 16. Saia Fainga'a, 17. James Slipper, 18. Rob Simmons, 19. Scott Higginbotham, 20. Liam Gill, 21. Brett Sheehan, 22. Anthony Fainga'a.
