Australia v South Africa LIVE: Result and reaction as Springboks put in dominant second half display
The Wallabies were unable to bounce back from their opening day defeat as the world champions produced a dominant second half to win 30-12
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World champions South Africa beat Australia 30-12 in Perth on Saturday morning as they returned to the top of the Rugby Championship.
The Wallabies were looking to avenge a disappointing 33-7 defeat to the Springboks in their openeing game last week, and South Africa had made 10 changes to the side that blew Australia away.
And a close first half ended with just two points in it as South Africa went into the break at 11-9, with Aphelele Fassi’s brilliant try the highlight, though the Wallabies were unlucky not to have had the lead after Noah Lolesio narrowly missed a penalty on half-time.
But the second half was an altogether different affair in wet conditions in Perth, as the South Africa pack took hold of the match and converted three mauls into three tries.
It finished 30-12 to the world champions as they continue their hunt for a first Rugby Championship title since 2019, ahead of a trip to New Zealand on 31 August.
Follow all of the live updates and reaction to the clash in Perth below:
Up next
For the Wallabies, their next two fixtures throw up an altogether kinder double-header against the Pumas in Argentina. Their first match kicks off on 31 August in La Plata.
The Springboks will be hosting the All Blacks in a rematch of the World Cup final on the same day in Johannesburg, before the second round of those games happens a week later in Santa Fe and Cape Town respectively.
Rugby Championship table
A recap of how the Championship table looks now.
1 - South Africa - P2, W2, 9pts
2 - Argentina - P2, W1, L1, 4pts
3 - New Zealand - P2, W1, L1, 4pts
4 - Australia - P2, L2, 0pts
FULL-TIME! Australia 12-30 South Africa
Jessie Kriel is the next Springbok in front of the cameras.
“I think with Rassie, it is more about his mindset and encouraging us as players to go out there, express ourselves, not be scared to make mistakes. I think as a player it is probably the key to go out there and try things,” he begins.
“He’s said to us,’ ‘go out there, go with offloads, get the ball into the width, express yourselves’. I think with Tony Brown coming in, it’s complemented that.
“It is exciting to be part of this team at the moment and play the brand of rugby we’re trying to play. [I’m] really excited and really happy to be part of them.
“The best thing about a really world class coach is how they can simplify and get messages across and make attacks simple. I think Tony does that in a way which is exciting as well.
“He gets the guys feeling like six-year-old kids at training, which is awesome at international rugby. He’s got really cool skill games and encouraging guys to get the games going, work on their passing and all the innovative moves, he’s getting guys stimulated, thinking about the game which I enjoy and I think a lot of the other guys are as well. You can see it on the field.”
Rugby Championship 2024 schedule: Fixtures for South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina
The Championship continues on 31 August – here’s a rundown of the remaining fixtures,
Saturday 31 August
South Africa vs New Zealand, 4pm (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)
Argentina vs Australia, 11pm (Estadio Uno, La Plata)
Saturday 7 September
South Africa vs New Zealand, 4pm (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)
Argentina vs Australia, 8pm (Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao Lopez, Santa Fe)
Saturday 21 September
Australia vs New Zealand, 6.45am (Accor Stadium, Sydney)
Argentina vs South Africa, 10pm (Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, Santiago del Estero)
Saturday 28 September
New Zealand vs Australia, 8.05am (Sky Stadium, Wellington)
South Africa vs Argentina, 4pm (Mbombela Stadium, Mbombela)
Rugby Championship 2024 schedule and fixtures
The world champion Springboks battle the All Blacks, Wallabies and Pumas in another gripping series of matches
FULL-TIME! Australia 12-30 South Africa
More from Schmidt...
“This is the best team in the world. This is no easy side to play against at the moment and we want to be mixing it with those teams.
“We knew that we had to move them around. We couldn’t just have a toe-to-toe battle with them. In our effort to do that, we undid ourselves a little bit. Maybe over-kicking or trying too heard to get the ball into some space. Not only are they very physical upfront, but very tough with their speed.
“I can’t fault the effort. Trying to combat a Springbok maul with a fully fit pack is tough enough.
“I still am proud of the way that the guys fought their way through that second half. And the way that they stayed in the fight in the first half. It could have been... I know it could have been easy to stay, but it could have been 12-11 at half-time. That would have been a massive lift for the boys.”
FULL-TIME! Australia 12-30 South Africa
Joe Schmidt is next in front of the media, and he has a fairly in-depth analysis of the match.
“Well, it was tough-going. I thought we almost got our nose in front at half-time which would have been a lift for the players. They were a little bit beaten up coming in at half-time, very physical as it always is against the Springboks.
“We’ve got a few guys who are walking wounded. We kind of just scrambled our way through the second half. Found it very hard to contain the maul with some of our bigger men out there.
“They capitalised on that. It made it pretty tough work. We had a couple of chances. Lukhan put one down in front of the posts we were close with. Those things really hurt us. On rebound, they made things very tough for us.
FULL-TIME! Australia 12-30 South Africa
Harry Wilson comes in front of the microphone for the Wallabies, and he says that today South Africa “turned up, played some good footy, they won the big moments tonight”.
“I felt we weren’t far off, but we’ve got to win the big moments. We’re a new team, working hard together. Going to continue to work hard.
“We know if we keep working, improving, we will win those sort of moments. I guess just once we got a bit of front football, made a few silly errors, I guess we started to not do our fundamentals, what we pride ourselves on. That really hurt us in the second half.”
FULL-TIME! Australia 12-30 South Africa
Eben Etzebeth is first to speak to the media, and he says that it has “been an amazing two weeks coming down, getting two victories”.
“It doesn’t happen a lot. The Wallabies are a quality outfit. I think the guys played well tonight and last week.
“Especially the first half. The shots were firing. We enjoyed it and knew they would come out hard tonight. That’s exactly what they did. Good result in the end.”
Regarding the changes made by Rassie Erasmus, Etzebeth says: “I think he’s a genius.
“They were great. Obviously the guys off the bench, they came on to finish. It was a good squad this whole tour.”
Rugby Championship recap
So today’s result means that South Africa have two wins from two in their mini-tour Down Under, having won 33-7 in the tournament opener.
The full results are below:
Saturday, 10 August
Australia 7-33 South Africa
New Zealand 30-38 Argentina
Saturday, 17 August
New Zealand 42-10 Argentina
Australia 12-30 South Africa
FULL-TIME! Australia 12-30 South Africa
So what was a close encounter at half-time, with just two points in it, ends with an 18-ppint margin of victory for the Springboks. The power of the pack was telling as they converted three tries from mauls and were able to keep their discipline better than their Aussie counterparts.
There’s a two-week break before the action resumes, and we’ll bring you details of that, plus some reaction, shortly.
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