South Africa vs Australia LIVE: Rugby Championship result and reaction as Springboks thrash Wallabies
Australia seek a first win at Loftus Versfeld as Eddie Jones begins his second stint in charge of the Wallabies
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South Africa put Australia to the sword as Eddie Jones’s second stint in charge of the Wallabies got off to a disastrous start.
Kurt-Lee Arendse’s hat-trick powered the Springboks to a seven-try 43-12 victory in Pretoria as the hosts flexed their strength.
Jacques Nienaber had named a side short of several regular first-choice stars for the Rugby Championship opener, but it mattered not as Australia were blown away.
Showing early attacking ambition and then taking full control with their power game, South Africa produced a statement performance in their first fixture of this World Cup year.
Australia twice had players sent to the sin bin after conceding penalty tries, Dave Porecki shown a yellow card after hauling down a ball before Suliasi Vunivalu’s deliberate knock on denied Arendse a walk-in fourth score.
It leaves Jones with plenty of thinking to do as Australia prepare to host Argentina in Sydney next weekend.
Argentina welcome New Zealand to Mendoza later on Saturday in round one’s other fixture.
Follow all the live updates from the Rugby Championship below:
Yellow card! South Africa 29-5 Australia, 69 minutes
Australia are going to lose another here - a deliberate knock on from Suliasi Vunivalu denies Kurt-Lee Arendse a fourth score...it’ll definitely be yellow, and probably more.
PENALTY TRY! SOUTH AFRICA 36-5 Australia (69 minutes)
Another penalty try! There’s no cover to help Vunivalu’s cause - an outstretched hand blocks the ball’s path as Arendse waits to amble in. Seven more to South Africa’s tally.
South Africa 36-5 Australia, 71 minutes
Yowzer. You thought Australia might take a little bit of time to settle under Eddie Jones but this has been beyond even what the most pessimistic Wallabies fans might have feared. Carter Gordon is on for a debut, but these are hardly ideal circumstances to insert a young playmaker into.
And that’s not an auspicious start from the Rebels fly-half, his shock of blonde hair flapping away as he shakes his head after releasing a careless forward pass.
South Africa 36-5 Australia, 73 minutes
Zane Nonggor gets a scrum-time lesson from Thomas du Toit. Another penalty against the visitors; South Africa prod once more for the right corner.
South Africa 36-5 Australia, 74 minutes
South Africa’s big biffers bash away at the Australia line, Andre Esterhuizen prominent, replacement Evan Roos, too...
TRY! SOUTH AFRICA 43-5 Australia (Pieter-Steph du Toit try, 76 minutes)
And Pieter-Steph du Toit dots down!
Du Toit can scarcely believe the space in front of him as he stoops to scoop up at the base of a ruck, not an Australian in sight as he lunges over the tackled player to complete the simplest of scores.
Another two points from Manie Libbok’s boot - South Africa will fancy fifty here.
South Africa 43-5 Australia, 78 minutes
Australia still a man short as South Africa go in search of a seventh try. Grant Williams explores the blindside and likes the look of the open space, scurrying into it like a terrier puppy. He finds Canan Moodie, who treads the touchline tightrope before digging out a deft dab.
Good cover from Marika Koroibete, coming across to collect before Moodie can capitalise, but the Australia wing can’t keep himself from ending up with chalk on his toes. South Africa’s lineout.
South Africa 43-5 Australia, 79 minutes
It says something about the totality of South Africa’s dominance that it feels like they’ve left plenty of points out there. Another error ends their latest movement in advanced territory as Suliasi Vunivalu returns for the game’s dregs.
TRY! South Africa 43-12 AUSTRALIA (Carter Gordon try, 81 minutes)
A consolation score for Carter Gordon on debut!
A run of 43 unanswered points is at last broken by Australia. It’s a beauty, really, caution tossed to the wind given the situation as a series of unlikely offloads improbably hit Wallabies hands. Marika Koroibete combines with his new colleague, tracking Gordon all the way in case he can offer further assistance, but the fly-half shows his easy speed to accelerate away from South African chasers and canter to a first test try.
Gordon knocks through the conversion, but it matters only in the final accounting.
FULL TIME! SOUTH AFRICA 43-12 AUSTRALIA
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