Cape Town - The Springboks produced one of their worst performances in recent memory and went down 25-17 against the Wallabies at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
The Springboks' dire record Down Under continued as they failed, miserably, to claim their first win on Australian soil since 2013, with a performance characterised by errors and an inability to take their chances on attack.
The Wallabies got off to a flying start when they capitalised right from the kick off to orchestrate some good attack in the build-up to flanker blindside flanker Fraser McReight's try.
The Boks did themselves absolutely no favours defending their tryline, with positional errors and those last few tackles not making anything easier, with McReight running a top line to finish their early efforts off.
Wallabies score in the first minute ⚡️
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 27, 2022
Quick hands sees Fraser McReight dot down, game on!
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The hosts looked threatening in the first few minutes and had the upper hand in the territory and possession stats.
But while South Africa weren't firing in the opening half, they did create opportunities, but basic errors robbed them of any chance of converting those moments.
Knock-ons and final passes not going to hand were the biggest difference between the two sides. The Boks got close to scoring a couple of times, but again, those sloppy moments cost then in opposition 22.
There were a lot of good moments on attack, with a few line breaks, but support play was also heavily lacking.
Flyhalf Handre Pollard was also way off target from the tee, hooking two shots at goal - one of which was a sitter of a kick.
Makazole Mapimpi got Boks fans excited when he flew down the left touchline, but a vicious tackle from Marika Koroibete, in which there was absolutely no wrap of the arms - and no card or even a second look from the officials - prevented the Boks from getting that try.
Koroibete 🆚 Mapimpi 💥![CDATA[]]>💥![CDATA[]]>💥
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 27, 2022
Some big collisions in this first 40 minutes!
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What made it worse, is that the Springboks then lost Faf de Klerk to what looked like a unnecesarry yellow card before halftime when he connected with Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White’s face. White went down rather easily despite the limited contact.
With the score 10-3 at halftime, the hosts humiliated the Boks in the second half with their direct running into space. And in this stanza, this Bok side had nobody but themselves to blame.
The deeper the game went, the worse they got. So many players in green were nowhere to be seen, and when they were, it was for the wrong reasons. The fact that they couldn't even get over the try line while Australia were one man down was just as disappointing.
Australia wasn't as good as the Boks made them look in the first half, but in the second half, they turned it on.
Their attacking play was solid and the longer the game went on, the more they made the Bok forwards look like they were just flapping around the field.
Koroibete scored Australia's second try and McReight added their third in stunning fashion.
Koroibete in the corner!
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 27, 2022
The Wallabies strike early again in the second half to go 15-3 up..
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That try had it all. From superb running lines to flashy offloads and inside pass so fine it could make a rugby textbook, everything was there.
Noah Lolesio added two penalties and two conversions in the outing, while the Boks only managed two late tries by Kwagga Smith when they finally started to punch holes in the Wallabies’ defence.
The fact that they trailed 3-25 in the 65th minute before Smith's touchdowns says it all.
The Boks went out hunting a historic win, and this defeat will certainly be remembered, but for all the wrong reasons.
Point scorers:
Australia: Tries: Fraser McReight (2), Marika Koroibete Conversions: Noah Lolesio (2) Penalties: Lolesio (2) Yellow card: Tom Wright
South Africa: Tries: Kwagga Smith (2) Conversions: Elton Jantjies, Jaden Hendrikse Penalties: Handre Pollard
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