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Watch: Wallabies take just 62 seconds to unravel the Springboks defence
By Sam Smith
The Springboks have had a miserable run of results against the Wallabies in Australia in recent years, with the South Africans failing to record a win since 2013.
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On that day almost a decade ago, the travelling Springboks thrashed their opposites, winning 38-12 in Brisbane – but it’s been one-way traffic in the ensuing years.
Despite the one-sided nature of the fixture in recent times (at least in terms of results), the Springboks still entered Saturday’s Rugby Championship match in Adelaide as favourites thanks to the home team’s poor run of recent form, which has seen them drop three of their five matches this season – including getting well and truly put to the sword by the Pumas in San Juan two weekends ago.
Evidently, the Wallabies had no interest in playing to expectations on Saturday afternoon and they burst out of the blocks with fire in the bellies to quickly put themselves on the front foot right from the opening whistle.
It took barely a minute for the Australians to dot down for their first score of the day through openside flanker Fraser McReight – undoubtedly catching the Springboks by surprise.
From the kick-off, the Wallabies competed well under the high ball delivered by Nic White and Rory Arnold eventually grabbed possession for the home side.
After close-range carries from Hunter Paisami and props Allan Alaalatoa and James Slipper, White sent the ball to the left-hand edge with Marika Koroibete eventually getting brought to ground just outside the 22.
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A quick ball in-field to Matt Philip opened up some more space on the blindside which Tom Wright exploited to send Rob Valetini on a trademark run down the tramlines.
While the Springboks were able to bring Valetini to ground, Australia recycled quickly and some nice hands from Philip saw Folau Fainga’a charge to within an inch of the line. More soft hands from White and Alaalatoa was all that was needed to deliver the ball to a steaming McReight who dove over the line to seal the score.
Wallabies come out swinging early!@wallabies 10, @Springboks 0.
? https://t.co/KcgeQMGVq1 pic.twitter.com/UCh0uAh6De
— FloRugby (@FloRugby) August 27, 2022
With Lolesio’s conversion, the Wallabies found themselves 7-0 up with less than two minutes played, giving themselves the best possible start to the match. An additional penalty from Lolesio furthered their lead in the early stages of the clash.
With Pollard having an off day with the boot, missing two relatively straightforward penalty attempts on goal, the Wallabies held a 10-3 lead with little more than a quarter of the match played.
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Poor team selections by Springboks, not real consistency, will cost them at the end.
This is what happens when you send your players to go to braai, Kruger park. Make out with the girlfriends… should’ve been on a plane to get over the jet lag the next day….