PERTH, Australia (AP) — South Africa scored three second-half tries Saturday to hand Australia a second loss in two weeks, beating the Wallabies 30-12 in a rain-soaked Rugby Championship match.
South Africa, which led 11-9 at halftime, outclassed the Wallabies 33-7 last Saturday in Brisbane to hand Australia its first defeat of the season after three wins.
The Springboks went ahead 18-9 in the 43rd minute Saturday and after a Wallabies penalty goal increased its lead to 23-12 when hooker Malcolm Marx rolled over from a driving maul in the 64th minute. They scored their final try with six minutes remaining when Marx again scored from a maul with the Wallabies playing a man short before more than 58,000 fans in Perth.
“It’s been an amazing two weeks coming down, getting two victories,” South Africa lock Eben Etzebeth said. “It doesn’t happen a lot. The Wallabies are a quality outfit … we knew they would come out hard tonight and that’s exactly what they did. Good result in the end.”
On coach Rassie Erasmus making 10 changes to the starting side from last week’s match at Brisbane, Etzebeth said: “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.”
Japan-based South Africa utility back Jesse Kriel also credited Erasmus with the team’s strong play.
“I think with Rassie, it is more about his mindset and encouraging us as players to go out there, express ourselves, not to be scared to make mistakes,” Kriel said. “It is exciting to be part of this team at the moment and play the brand of rugby we’re trying to play.”
Australia No. 8 Harry Wilson said the Springboks “won the big moments.”
“They turned up, they played some good footy,” Wilson said. “I felt we weren’t far off, but we’ve got to win the big moments.”
Australia coach Joe Schmidt said that, despite the loss, he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I can’t fault the effort,” Schmidt said. “Trying to combat a Springbok maul with a fully-fit pack is tough enough. With kind of a little bit of half a pack, it became very difficult, then we ended up when Seru Uru got sin-binned, you know, that’s a really big ask.
The Wallabies lost both captain Allan Ala’alatoa (shoulder injury) and replacement skipper James Slipper (head injury assessment) to dent their chances of staying with the Springboks.
“This is the best team in the world,” Schmidt said. “This is no easy side to play against at the moment and we want to be mixing it with those teams.”
South Africa split a two-match series at home with Ireland and beat Portugal before heading to Australia. The Wallabies had two wins over Wales and a victory over Georgia to start Schmidt’s reign as coach.
The Rugby Championship continues in two weeks when the Wallabies travel to Argentina for a two-test trip and the Springboks host the All Blacks for two matches in South Africa.
