Enlarge imageBy Craig Ray
PERTH (Reuters) - South Africa secured their first away win in the Tri-nations since 1998 with a 22-19 (halftime 14-6) victory over Australia on Saturday.
Wing Bryan Habana scored two breakaway tries, one in either half, to condemn the Wallabies to their fourth straight defeat - their worst sequence of losses since 1982.
The Springboks with three wins from three games top the Tri-Nations standings on 12 points. New Zealand are on five, Australia have two.
Australia enjoyed the bulk of the possession and territory but could not break down a resolute Springbok defence, which again proved the difference.
Australia were disrupted just before kick-off when flyhalf Elton Flatley had to withdraw with blurred vision in his left eye, a result of a warm-up accident.
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Matt Giteau moved from inside centre with Morgan Turinui moving to inside centre and Clyde Rathbone taking over at outside centre.
Australia put on early pressure, but somehow failed to score a try in the opening 40 minutes and titleholders South Africa went into the halftime break 14-6 up despite the Wallabies enjoying 70 percent of the possession.
The Springboks also played 10 minutes of the period with 14-men after wing Breyton Paulse was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate foul.
The visitors opened the scoring in the third minute when Habana scorched 80-metres for a try after a turnover inside his 22-metre area.
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The ball was collected by flank Schalk Burger, who released centre Jaque Fourie to pass to Habana who scored his 11th try in his 11th test.
Springbok fullback Percy Montgomery was uncharacteristically off target with the boot and only landed three out of eight kicks at goal but Giteau and Mat Rogers put over five out of six kicks between them for the home team.
Former South African under-21 captain Rathbone, who now plays for the Wallabies, scored the home team’s only try in the 51st minute, which Rogers converted to pull Australia to within a point of the lead.
Rogers landed his third penalty 11 minutes later to put the home team ahead for the first time, but Habana had the last say.
From a turnover 10-metres from his own goal line, Montgomery fed the ball wide and Habana used his searing pace to score try number 12 and break Aussie hearts.
The next Tri-nations game is in a week’s time in Dunedin where New Zealand host South Africa.
Teams
Australia: 15-Drew Mitchell; 14-Mat Rogers, 13-Clyde Rathbone (Adam Ashley-Cooper 78), 12-Morgan Turinui, 11-Lote Tuqiri, 10-Matt Giteau, 9-George Gregan (Chris Whitaker 70); 8-David Lyons, 7-Phil Waugh (George Smith 69), 6-Rocky Elsom (John Roe 55), 5-Nathan Sharpe, 4-Daniel Vickerman, 3-Al Baxter, 2-Brendan Cannon, 1-Bill Young (Matt Dunning 55).
South Africa: 15-Percy Montgomery; 14-Breyton Paulse, 13-Jaque Fourie, 12-Jean de Villiers, 11-Bryan Habana, 10-Andre Pretorius (Jaco van der Westhuysen 60), 9-Ricky Januarie (Fourie du Preez 52); 8-Joe van Niekerk, 7-Juan Smith, 6-Schalk Burger, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Bakkies Botha (Alvert van den Berg 6), 3-CJ van der Linde, 2-John Smit, 1-Os du Randt (Gurthro Steenkamp 55).
