The Wallabies made things a bit more difficult than they needed to be, but managed to steal the win with a near last-minute try from Rob Horne. Up until then they had looked intent on gifting the game to the Springboks, serving up Morne Steyn a steady supply of kicking opporyunities from soft penalties committed by numerous offenders. It was almost comical when James Horwill came on and within two minutes killed the ball in a tackle and handed Steyn what looked like the winning goal.

Luckily his team rebounded, thanks to a Bernard Foley kick and then the tactical arrival of Kurtley Beale. The whole team seemed to lift with his presence, and he made an immediate impact, culminating in Horne’s try after his short ball to Israel Folau on the inside broke the defensive line. With so many calling for Beale’s inclusion at his Super Rugby position of no12 for the past few weeks, the question most were asking after the game was ‘what took so long?’

Aside from the inscipline the Wallabies had played pretty well. Their defense was solid and they looked sharp on attack with Foley and Nick Phipps keeping the tempo pretty high. The weather was a bit slick, but like in Napier the downpour that might have been expected never materialised.

The Springboks had obviously been banking on some rain, and reverted to their classic kicking game, relying on their set pieces and Wallaby mistakes to put points on the board. John Eales lamented after the game that South Africa had wasted so much possession after looking dangerous with ball in hand, and he wasn’t wrong. When Cornal Hendricks and Bryan Habana were given chances, they were deadly, but just didn’t see enough ball.

Habana was hard done by referee George Clancy when he was yellow-carded for a very innocuous tackle that very well might have influenced the final score given that the Boks were still down a man when Horne went over. Clancy had earlier penalised Duane Vermeulen for a crunching tackle on James Slipper that to everyone else in attendance, Australians included, looked perfectly legitimate.

Still the Springboks can blame themselves for failing to play enough rugby. Their boot-to-ball strategy failed, exacerbated by multiple sliced kicks from Ruan Pienaar and Willie le Roux, and neither Heyneke Meyer nor Jean de Villiers opted to go to option B, if there was even one in place. The persistent selection of Pienaar and his ponderous service must be frustrating for South African fans with dreams of more expansive rugby.

Australia shouldn’t chop and change too much, though surely Beale must now get a run at no12. Matt To’omua is a strong player but Beale’s combination with Foley and Folau, and the x-factor he brings on offense just can’t be ignored, regardless of any defensive frailties that might come along with him. If Ewen McKenzie wants to truly challenge at the World Cup, he’ll need to be bold, and better today than tomorrow.

AUSTRALIA 24 vs 23 SOUTH AFRICA
Saturday, September 6, 10:05 GMT, Perth

SCORING
01 mins – I. Folau try 5-0
06 mins – M. Steyn pen 5-3
12 mins – C. Hendricks try 5-8
16 mins – B. Foley pen 8-8
18 mins – M. Steyn pen 8-11
25 mins – M. Steyn pen 8-14
28 mins – B. Foley pen 11-14
42 mins – B. Foley pen 14-14
45 mins – M. Steyn pen 14-17
48 mins – M. Steyn pen 14-20
62 mins – M. Steyn pen 14-23
69 mins – B. Foley pen 17-23
78 mins – R. Horne try 22-23
79 mins – B. Foley con 24-23

CARDS
65 mins – B. Habana yellow (foul play)

AUSTRALIA
I. Folau; A. Ashley-Cooper, T. Kuridrani, M. To’omua (K. Beale 73), R. Horne; B. Foley, N. Phipps; J. Slipper (P. Cowan 53), J. Hanson, S. Kepu (B. Alexander 67); S. Carter (J. Horwill 60), R. Simmons; S. Fardy (M. Hodgson 70), M. Hooper (capt.), W. Palu (S. Higginbotham 60).

SOUTH AFRICA
W. le Roux; C. Hendricks, J. Serfontein, J. de Villiers (capt.), B. Habana (W. Whiteley 79); M. Steyn, R. Pienaar; T. Mtawarira (T. Nyakane 69), A. Strauss (B. du Plessis 61), J. du Plessis (M. van der Merwe 67); E. Etzebeth (L. de Jager 73), V. Matfield; F. Louw (P. Lambie 69), M. Coetzee, D. Vermeulen.

Referee: G. Clancy (IRFU)
Assistants: G. Jackson (NZRU) & M. Fraser (NZRU)
TMO: B. Skeen (NZRU)