South African flyhalf Handre Pollard kicked the Springboks to a 23-12 Rugby Championship victory over Australia’s Wallabies at Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Pollard kicked both of his conversion attempts as well as three penalties which kept South Africa in the lead for almost the entire match.
Both teams scored two tries each so the difference came down to kicking and Pollard delivered while Australia’s Matt Toomua struggled.
All of the tries were were scored in the opening half of the match and just three points were scored after the break.
Although Australia dominated the possession and territory in the second half South Africa kept them scoreless – even when they were down to 14 players when Aphiwe Dyantyi was yellow carded.
While South Africa won the match comfortably
South Africa went into the lead in the first minute when Dyantyi intercepted a pass from Kurtley Beale and scored the opening try of the match after 25 seconds.
Pollard added the conversion and 19 minutes later slipped the ball to Faf de Klerk for the second try of the match. When the conversion from Pollard went over the Springboks had built a 14-0 lead with almost 60 minutes to play.
The Wallabies are never a team to lie down though and they hit back with tries by Reece Hodge and No 9 Will Genia and although the Boks won the match comfortably the Wallabies won the last 60 minutes of the match 9-12.
Just as they did in Wellington with the All Blacks the Springboks had less possession than their opposition and relied on their defence. In the final quarter the Wallabies tried just about everything to get through the Bok defence but they could not find a gap even when they had a numbers advantage.
The victory means the South Africa have earned back to back wins over New Zealand and Australia in their last two tests which will give them a big confidence boost for next week against the All Blacks.
Australia have now not won in South Africa since 2011 and this year they have just one win – over South Africa in Brisbane – to show for their Rugby championship campaign. They will leave South Africa without picking up any points at all due to losing by 11 points.
The victory keeps South Africa in second place in the Rugby championship standings and they move up to 14 points – two behind the All Blacks who still have to play Argentina later today.
Next week South Africa host New Zealand in Pretoria at Loftus Versfeld while Australia travel to Argentina where they will play the Pumas in Salta.
If the All Blacks fail to beat Argentina this weekend, next weekend South Africa and New Zealand will have everything to play for in the race for the title.
Final Score South Africa 23 (20) Australia 12 (12)
Scorers
South Africa
Tries – A.Dyantyi, K.de Klerk
Pen – H.Pollard 3
Con – H.Pollard 2
Drop –
Cards -A. Dyantyi (64th min yellow)
Australia
Tries – R.Hodge, W.Genia
Pen –
Con – M.Toomua
Drop –
Cards –
Match Officials
Referee: Jerome Garces (FFR)
Assistant Ref 1:Wayne Barnes (RFU)
Assistant Ref 2: Matthew Carley (RFU)
TMO : Graham Hughes (RFU)
Teams
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Damian Willemse
Australia
15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Israel Folau, 13 Reece Hodge, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Izack Rodda, 4 Adam Coleman, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Folau Faingaa, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Rob Simmons, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Bernard Foley, 23 Jack Maddocks
