Boks' drought continues Down Under
REPORT: South Africa’s hopes of snapping a nine-year winless streak on Australian soil were shattered Saturday with a bruising 17-25 Rugby Championship defeat to the Wallabies at Adelaide Oval.
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The home team took a 10-3 into the break, soaking up huge pressure, before piling on 15 points in the second half to once more deny the Springboks, who have not tasted victory in Australia since 2013, now spanning eight Tests.
Two tries from Fraser McReight and one by the outstanding Marika Koroibete helped seal victory for Australia who bounced back from a shock 17-48 thumping by Argentina in San Juan this month.
The victory gave coach Dave Rennie breathing space after a stuttering year, overseeing three wins and three defeats in their build-up to next year’s World Cup.
Try-saving tackle
The Wallabies started slowly in every Test this season, finding themselves chasing the game. They spoke before the match about coming out with guns blazing and lived up to expectations, with a try in the opening minute.
They won the ball from their own kickoff and, on the front foot, strung together several phases before flank McReight barged over and Lolesio slotted an easy conversion.
The lead stretched to 10-0 minutes later after they won a breakdown penalty and Lolesio split the posts again.
The last time South Africa won against the Wallabies in Australia was a 38-12 victory in Brisbane nine years ago.
Among the run of defeats were two brutal ones last year on the Gold Coast (28-26) and Brisbane (30-17) and they quickly steadied the ship.
In front of more than 33 000 fans at a ground more used to hosting cricket, Kolisi’s side began exerting pressure, earning a penalty only for Handre Pollard to badly miss.
McReight made a try-saving tackle for the Wallabies in the 17th minute and Pollard fluffed another penalty before he finally found his radar for their first points of the day.
The game was being played almost entirely in Australia’s half, with the Wallabies’ defence clinging on despite Tom Wright being yellow-carded and Koroibete made an incredible try-saving tackle on Makazole Mapimpi three minutes before the break.
Mapimpi was free in the left corner but as he dived to cross the line Koroibete flew at full tilt to smash the ball out of the winger’s hands.
South Africa started the second stanza with 14 men after Faf de Klerk was controversially sin-binned a minute before the break for clipping fellow scrum-half Nic White on the face.
The Wallabies made the most of it with Koroibete finishing a smooth move that started with a break by Wright down the right to put them 15-3 in front.
They were flying and perfectly executed a training ground set-piece 10 minutes later.
Slipper timed a pass inside to Lolesio and he burst through into open space, offloading to the chasing McReight who dived over to secure another five points.
Kwagga Smith bagged two tries for the Springboks against the tiring Wallabies in the final five minutes, but it was not enough.
Man of the match: Damian Willemse, Lood De Jager and Lukhanyo Am were the standout performers for the Springboks. Len Ikitau Hunter Paisami were in fine form in the midfield, while Marika Koroibete also deserves a mention. Noah Lolesio managed the well. However, our nod goes to Fraser McReight, who was incredible on defence and attack and scored two tries for his team.
The scorers:
For Australia
Tries: McReight 2, Koroibete
Cons: Lolesio 2
Pens: Lolesio 2
For South Africa:
Try: Smith 2
Con: Jantjies
Pen: Pollard
Yellow card: Tom Wright (Australia, 29 – deliberate offside), Faf de Klerk (South Africa, 39 – foul play, strike to the face), Rob Valentini (Australia, 79 – repeated infringements)
Teams
Australia: 15 Reece Hodge, 14 Tom Wright, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Nic White, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Jed Holloway, 5 Matt Philip, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 James Slipper (captain).
Replacements: 16 David Porecki, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Darcy Swain, 20 Rob Leota, 21 Pete Samu, 22 Tate McDermott, 23 Andrew Kellaway.
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Warrick Gelant, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Albertus Smith, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Francois Steyn.
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Tual Trainini (France)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
