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Dominant Springboks defeat Australia in Brisbane

Dominant Springboks defeat Australia in Brisbane

Patrick Hamilton/AFP

World champions South Africa scored five tries to one as they beat Australia 33-7 in their opening match of the Rugby Championship in Brisbane on Saturday.

The Wallabies, who finished the first half with three points to lead 21-0, scored twice more in the second period when they were overwhelmed by South Africa’s fierce attack.

Australia’s only goal came after the Springboks were reduced to 13 men after Malcolm Marx and Marco van Staden were shown yellow cards.

The Springboks secured their first win at Suncorp Stadium since 2013 and their fourth win in Brisbane.

They went into the match as favourites, number one in the world rankings ahead of the Wallabies who were in ninth place.

And it soon became clear who had the upper hand, with the Wallabies overwhelmed by the power and size of the South African attacking line.

The Wallabies, under new manager Joe Schmidt, started 2024 with two wins against Wales and one against Georgia but found the move up the league table was too much for them.

Their scrums were broken and their normally reliable line-outs were also struggling.

Their discipline also deteriorated, with 14 penalties and one crucial yellow card given to Andrew Kellaway in the first half.

South Africa had more possession in the early stages of the match and it was no surprise that they scored the first goal in the 10th minute when captain Siya Kolisi scored from above after a clever line move.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had missed an easy penalty earlier, sent the ball into the net from outside the goal to make the score 7-0.

With the Springboks’ possession reaching 75 per cent, it was difficult for the Wallabies to stay in the game.

When they did get the ball, they were ineffective and simply kicked it away, giving it straight back to the Springboks.

The home side fell further behind in the second half through Pieter-Steph du Toit’s cross after the Wallabies’ defence had been exhausted.

Australia saw Kellaway shown a yellow card for a dangerous lifting tackle with 10 minutes left in the half.

Springbok winger Kurt-Lee Arendse scored under the goalposts to extend the lead after slicing through the Australian forwards.

Australia rallied after the restart and created several goal-scoring opportunities but South Africa were unable to take control of the game with goals from Kwagga Smith and Arendse inside two minutes.

Hunter Paisami scored Australia’s consolation point with three minutes left in the match, with Tom Lynagh heading in a goal.

The two teams will meet again in Perth next Saturday.

© Agence France-Presse