Springboks lose but recover some pride
Australia 20 South Africa 18
There was no revenge for South Africa today in Sydney today as they are pipped 20-18 by Australia in their second meeting of this year’s Tri-Nations.
The Springboks lost 49-0 last time out, but today’s was a much tighter test. It was somewhat lacking in quality however, with both sides prone to error and most of the scores coming from opposition mistakes.
The Wallabies led 10-0 at half-time after Mark Gerrard picked up a badly-judged cross-kick by Butch James. Stirling Mortlock added the conversion to an earlier penalty.
The ‘Boks got off the mark in the second half when James took over the kicking duties from an out-of-sorts Percy Montgomerie.
He kicked two penalties and converted when Jaque Fourie touched down after a litany of errors from the home side resulting from their under-pressure scrum.
Mortlock equalised with a three-pointer, but Montgomerie pushed the visitors back in front with a try and they led 18-13 until four minutes from the end.
However, sub Phil Waugh put Mat Rogers away to score in the corner and Mortlock kicked the conversion over off the woodwork for a 20-18 Wallabies home win.
