Springboks bounce back with win over Wallabies

The Springboks came out on top at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday evening, beating the Wallabies 30 points to 22 and securing their first win of the Castle Lager Championship.

This follows a shock loss at Ellis Park last week when Australia came back from 22-0 to beat South Africa 22-38.

While the Boks may have ended with an eight-point advantage, their performance did not match the standard most have become accustomed to.

Like the match in Johannesburg, South Africa started on the front foot with two penalties converted by Handre Pollard within the first seven minutes.

However, the visitors soon responded with a try by debutant Corey Toole, which James O’Connor converted.

South Africa scored their first try minutes later, with Canan Moodie collecting a coast-to-coast from Pollard to dot the ball down. Pollard added the extra two to bring the score to 13-7.

The hosts then added another seven to their tally, with Kwagga Smith scoring under the posts to bring his team’s total to twenty.

A penalty converted by O’Connor in the forty-first minute saw both teams head into the changing room with the score at 20-10.

Seven minutes after the restart, Matt Jorgensen scored after a diagonal kick from O’Connor, with Moodie making a similar mistake to the one that had allowed him to dot the ball down earlier in the match. A conversion brought the Aussies within three points of the hosts at 20-17.

Pollard then increased his team’s lead to six after he converted his fifth kick from five. However, an unconverted try by Australia ten minutes later brought the score to 23-22.

While the Wallabies looked to be building up to claim their first lead in the match, Andrew Kellaway dropped the ball in his own 22 in the seventy-third minute.

The hosts capitalised on the possession with a try from Eben Etzebeth a few minutes later, increasing their lead to eight, where it remained for the rest of the tie.

In its match report, the Springboks said that the win, which saw South Africa retain the Mandela Challenge Plate, “was built on a solid grind, with the forwards laying the foundation for a much-improved performance.”

Head coach Rassie Erasmus described his team’s performance as “far from perfect,” but said that regaining the winning momentum was the most important thing.

“We played a more balanced game this week. I don’t think we created 50 percent of what we created last weekend but we ground the game out, when we thought it was going to be a grind,” he said.

“There were some handling errors – although the conditions played a part in that – but their back three was fantastic and this game gave us a good taste of what we are going to see when we play New Zealand because they have lightning backs as well.”

The Boks will travel to Eden Park in Auckland next, where New Zealand will host them on Saturday, 6 September.

New Zealand showed a solid performance in their first Rugby Championship match, beating hosts Argentina 41-24.