South Africa see off Australia in Port Elizabeth with 23-12 victory

South Africa 23-12 Australia, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Scorecard

South Africa maintained their fine form in the ongoing Rugby Championship as they defeated Australia 23-12 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.

This is Springboks' third win of the tournament that has taken them to 14 points in the table and they will be now hoping for Argentina to surprise New Zealand later in the day to keep their chances alive of winning the tournament while the Wallabies continue to remain at the bottom in what has been a tough year for them.

The home side got off to a promising start when a pass from Kurtley Beale was intercepted by Aphiwe Dyantyi, who scored the opening try in the first minute that was improved by Handre Pollard to take the score to 7-0.

Wallabies had a chance to get off the mark when Matt Toomua lined up for a penalty but his kick went wide of the post. Even though, the hosts had most of the possession for first quarter but it did not convert into points.

Rassie Erasmus' men went on to double the lead at the end of the first quarter when Faf de Klerk raced past the line in the 21st minute that was improved by Pollard.

Australia got their first points in the 26th minute when Reece Hodge capitalised on a long pass from Will Genia for their opening try and three minutes later Genia himself got his name in the scoring sheet as the gap between the two teams came down to two points.

However, Pollard stretched South Africa's lead to six points before the break with back to back penalties and even followed it with another three-pointer in the 46th minute. As the teams struggled to score points for most part of the second half, Australia had few penalties coming their way but decided to kick to touch.

South Africa were reduced to 14-men temporarily by the 65th minute when Dyantyi was sin-binned for a cynical foul but they still managed to hold on to their 11 point lead to keep their hope alive in the tournament.