Springboks retain Mandela Plate

The Wallabies horror record in South Africa continued, going down 33-20 at Ellis Park, Johannesburg early this morning (AEST).

Australia have just one Test match victory at Ellis Park, all the way back in 1963 and the drought continued as a awesome first half from the Springboks tore the game open, and with a 15-point lead at half-time the game was never in doubt.

The match was a celebration of Nelson Mandela’s life and the pre-match festivities hinted it would be a carnival like atmosphere when 60,000 fans singing of Happy Birthday chorused around the ground, and balloons and flags could be seen everywhere.

But as soon as the first ball was kicked, a parochial home crowd got right behind the home side, and they attacked with vigour and venom in the opening stages.

The Springboks made a lively start, running straight and hard at the Wallaby defence. It just took two minutes for South Africa to get on the scoreboard when Percy Montgomery comfortably converted his penalty kick. Matt Giteau struck back for the Wallabies on nine minutes, when his penalty kick sailed through the goals.

But three minutes later, Stephen Larkham’s attempted pass was intercepted by speedster Jean De Villiers, and the winger ran 60m before scoring the opening try of the Test match. It was a costly mistake by the normally brilliant fly-half, and the try handed the Springboks even more momentum as the parochial home crowd got behind the home side. Percy Montgomery then converted the try to extend the lead to 10-3.

At the 15 minute mark, Australian fly-half Stephen Larkham came off the field, to visit the ‘blood bin’ and he was subsequently replaced by Morgan Turinui. Three minutes later, Montgomery was in the action again scoring a penalty goal for the Springboks. It was a case of déjà vu for the Wallabies, as another pass was intercepted – this time from Stirling Mortlock.

The intercept landed with Andre Pretorious, recalled to the Springbok set-up for his first Test since 2003, and he ran 40m with the ball before passing to speedster Bryan Habana who rubbed further salt into the already deep Wallaby wound. Montgomery kicked his fourth goal for the afternoon and the Springboks jumped into a 17-point lead, 20-3.

For the next 10 minutes, the Wallabies applied strong pressure with Jeremy Paul going close to scoring a try, and the Springbok defence under intense pressure. South African Breyton Paulse was sent from the field, receiving a yellow card after deliberate infringing. And just two minutes later, the Wallabies used the extra man to their advantage after David Lyons was bulldozed over the try-line by the Wallaby pack for the Aussies’ first try of the match.

Unfortunately for the Wallabies, Matt Giteau missed the conversion kick and on the stroke of half-time, Montgomery kicked a penalty goal to extend the half-time margin to 15 points, 23-8 in the Springboks favour.

Just a minute into the second half, Springbok Schalk Burger was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, leaving the Springboks two men short for a couple of minutes until Paulse was allowed to come back on. From the high tackle that Burger was sent off for, Wallaby Rocky Elsom went off the field sick and sorry, and was replaced by Phil Waugh.

In the sixth minute the Springboks had their third try when Jaque Fourie ran under the posts. Montgomery duly converted the try and made the lead 30-8 in favour of the home side.

Montgomery sure had his kicking boots on, as he nailed another penalty kick, to extend the margin to 25 points in the 18th minute. With the game beyond doubt, Eddie Jones used the opportunity to give a few squad players a run with Daniel Vickerman, Matt Dunning, Drew Mitchell and Chris Whitaker all coming on.

The Wallabies put some respect on the scoreboard when Wendell Sailor played Larkham in with a nice pass, and the fly-half sprinted 40m to touch the ball down under the posts and score the second try for Australia. The try was converted by Mortlock and the Wallabies put some more pressure on with another try – this time from Jeremy Paul, who showed immense strength to power over the line.

But the late points were never going to be enough, as the Wallabies slumped to yet another defeat in South Africa.

Next week, the annual Tri-Nations Series begins with South Africa hosting Australia at Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.

SOUTH AFRICA	33
Tries: Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Jaque Fourie. Conversions: Percy Montgomery 3. Penalties: Percy Montgomery 4.
AUSTRALIA	20
Tries: David Lyons, Stephen Larkham, Jeremy Paul. Conversions: Stirling Mortlock. Penalties: Matt Giteau.
@ Ellis Park, Johannesburg.   Referee: Steve Walsh (NZ)   Crowd: 60,486 Weather: Fine, Sunny.   Surface: Good.   Half Time: South Africa 23-8.