The Wallabies sprung a huge surprise by beating the Springboks at Ellis Park for the first time in the professional era.
The Wallabies stunned a buzzing Ellis Park by pulling off a scarcely believable 38-22 come from behind win against the Springboks, earning the men from Down Under their first win at the ground in the professional era.
It was an extremely poor performance from the Boks, who initially got off to an amazing start, but then let in six unanswered tries as the Aussies incredibly came back to earn a well-deserved and comfortable win in the end.
Here are four talking points from the match:
Flying start
It was a flying start to the match for the Springboks as they ran in three tries in the first 18 minutes to power into a big early lead. It started straight from the kick-off as they attacked into the Wallabies 22m area, with the ball then spread to Kurt-Lee Arendse to go over in under two minutes.
The second came in the 12th minute after fantastic interplay from the backline, with the ball going through the hands to Pieter-Steph du Toit out wide, with him finding Andre Esterhuizen on his inside to finish off a wonderful move.
The third came in the 18th minute, as captain Siya Kolisi picked up at a ruck in the Aussie 22m area, stepped a player and went through to score. Manie Libbok had his kicking boots on, slotting two conversions and a penalty, with one conversion coming off the uprights, to give them a 22-0 lead.
Aussie fightback
The Wallabies improved markedly over the rest of the first half, managing to hold onto the ball better and take some play into the Boks’ half. This earned them a few opportunities but the Bok defence stood strong initially keeping them out.
In the 29th minute the Aussies got themselves on the board with their opening try, catching the Boks out with a good loop play that saw them earn space out wide for wing Dylan Pietsch to go over, which saw them trailing 22-5 at the halftime break.
The Wallabies continued their comeback in the second half, as Harry Wilson hit a great line to run in untouched, before Joseph Sua’ali’I intercepted a poor pass from Manie Libbok to race away and score, James O’Connor slotting both conversions to bring them within three after 58 minutes.
Wasted chances and slew of errors
The Springboks were guilty of wasting a number of good opportunities in the Wallabies 22m area in both halves, which cost them dearly with the visitors ruthless, making sure they scored with every opportunity presented to them.
The Boks were also guilty of making a slew of mistakes that led to the Wallabies incredible comeback, which saw them score six unanswered tries. It was only in the 63rd minute that the Aussies hit the front for the first time, as Harry Wilson finished off a good move for his second.
Two minutes later Max Jorgensen was in to extend their lead to 11 points, and the men from Down Under secured a brilliant come from behind win in the 75th minute, when Tom Wright caught a loose ball in his own half and raced away, beating the last defender to put them into an unassailable lead.
Set piece
The Boks struggled a bit in the lineout during the first half, having their ball stolen twice on attacking throws which cost them a couple of chances. But they got their own back in the second half, stealing a couple of Aussie balls in their own 22m to stop the visitors in their tracks.
But another few poor lineouts in the second half saw the Boks back to their struggling as they lost three more on their throw, including a skew through and another steal. Overall the Boks won 11 of their 16 throws, while the Aussies weren’t much better winning 14 of 18.
In the scrums the Wallabies initially competed well, not allowing the Boks to gain their usual dominance. But as the game wore on the Bok scrum started firing and they started to dominate, earning some good scrum penalties.
