Springboks overpower Wallabies for record win

South Africa won their first match in Australia in four years and kept the Wallabies win-less in the Rugby Championship with a record 38-12 victory on Saturday. The Springboks won for the first time in nine visits to Brisbane in 42 years with a four tries-to-nil thrashing to remain unbeaten in the southern hemisphere series along with the All Blacks, who they face in Auckland next weekend. It was the biggest win by the Springboks in Australia and they totted up more points than their last 32-25 win over the Wallabies in Australia in 2009. "Everybody wrote us off and said it's impossible to win here," Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said. "The whole week there was a mindset that we can win. We need to keep our feet on the ground and stay humble. It's a win and next week it's a bigger challenge (against the All Blacks). "I thought our defence was awesome. We have to be able to win the game without the ball. Our scrums were great, the set pieces, I truly believe we won the game firstly in the minds, and second without the ball." South Africa led 16-6 at halftime but broke the game wide open in the second half with three tries in eight minutes to keep Ewen McKenzie without a win in three Tests since taking over from Robbie Deans as coach of the Wallabies. Forward Coenie Oosthuizen, skipper Jean de Villiers, fullback Zane Kirchner and winger Willie Le Roux scored tries with Morne Steyn kicking three conversions and four penalties. "In the end you've got to take your moments, you've got to create opportunities and grab them and we didn't do that,' McKenzie said. "We didn't quite get there. We were mixing it and again we played from behind in the whole game on the scoreboard and once we got the yellow card (Michael Hooper) we were two scores behind. Then you shut up shop or you try to win, so we tried to win only to dig a deeper hole." The Wallaby defence disintegrated in the second half in the face of a disciplined South African assault and dominant scrum and the home side finished without a try in another deeply disappointing display by the Australians, who have now lost five of their six Tests this year. It was a triumph for coach Meyer, who wildly cheered his team's tries watching from the coach's box, after the Springboks back-to-back wins over Argentina to keep the pressure on World Cup champions New Zealand in the Rugby Championship. Replacement forward Oosthuizen gave the Springboks a flying start when he plunged over for a converted try off the television match official in the sixth minute after a prodigious linekick by Steyn from inside his own half. But South Africa went a man down when openside flanker Willem Alberts was shown a yellow card for kicking the ball away after he deliberately knocked down Australia's ball. Christian Lealiifano kicked the penalty for the Wallabies to trail 7-3 in the eighth minute. But the Springboks bustled the Wallabies into error with uncompromising defence and Steyn kicked a penalty to widen the gap to 10-3. Lealiifano landed his second penalty but Steyn kicked two more penalties for the Springboks to lead 16-6 at halftime. The Wallabies had the Springboks under pressure straight after the resumption but had to settle for a Lealiifano penalty to trail by seven points. The Springboks continued to dictate play and openside-flanker Hooper was sin-binned for a lifting tackle on winger Bryan Habana leaving the Wallabies with 14 men 10 minutes into the second half. Steyn restored the 10-point advantage with his fourth penalty from the Hooper incident. Francois Louw was penalised for hitting Adam Ashley-Cooper without the ball and Lealiifano kicked his fourth penalty as the Wallabies struggled to find a way throughout the swarming South African defence. The Springboks capitalised after a Habana break and kick ahead with de Villiers surging through a gap to score their second try on the hour and open up a 12-point lead. It got worse for the Wallabies with two tries in two minutes through Kirchner and Le Roux as the Springboks finished full of running for a great night for South African rugby. Source: AFP