Battling Australia topple South Africa in Rugby Championship
- The Wallabies produced an impressive performance with a 25-17 win over South Africa in their Rugby Championship Test at Adelaide Oval
- The win continued the misery for the Springboks in Australia, with the Wallabies unbeaten in the past eight clashes between the two sides
South Africa’s hopes of snapping a nine-year winless streak on Australian soil were shattered Saturday with a bruising 25-17 Rugby Championship defeat to the Wallabies at Adelaide Oval.
The home team took a 10-3 lead 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. They have another chance next week in Sydney.
Two tries from Fraser McReight and one by the outstanding Marika Koroibete helped seal victory for Australia who bounced back from a shock 48-17 thumping by Argentina in San Juan this month.
“We started the game well and that put us in a good position. There were parts of that game where we had to show a lot of character, and we did that,” Australia captain James Slipper said.
“This is Test match rugby and it’s built on big moments and it’s usually the team that wins that goes well in those big moments. We had quite a few.”
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.
“It just didn’t go our way. We camped on their try line for much of the first half but we couldn’t take the opportunities,” said Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi.
“But they played really well today from the get-go, and the game is about small margins – every opportunity they got they took it.”
