‘Ruthless Boks’: South Africa thump Australia in Rugby Championship

Marco Van Staden of South Africa with the ball during the Rugby Championship match between South Africa and Australia. Photo / Getty

Kurt-Lee Arendse scored a hat-trick among South Africa’s six straight tries as the world champions steamrolled Australia 43-12 in the opening round of the Rugby Championship.

Australia scored the first and last tries at Loftus Versfeld but conceded 43 points in between to underline the task new coach Eddie Jones faces at the start of his second spell in charge of the Wallabies with a World Cup looming in September.

Winger Arendse improved his free-scoring start to international rugby with his eighth, ninth and 10th tries in his eighth test for the Boks.

Leading 17-5 at halftime and getting into their stride, South Africa unleashed a ruthless performance in the second half, with Arendse completing his hat-trick in the 50th minute and the Springboks adding two penalty tries — which both cost an Australia player a yellow card — and a final score by flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit.

“We can still improve,” said Duane Vermeulen, who stood in as Springboks captain for the injured Siya Kolisi. “It’s still not 100 per cent our best performance but very happy with the result.”

Australia have lost all eight of their tests against the Boks in Pretoria since the first in 1963.

“Loftus is a tough place to come,” Wallabies co-captain James Slipper said.

Marika Koroibete flew down the left wing to put Australia into a surprise 5-0 lead in the eighth minute but the visitors were on the back foot for pretty much the entire game after that.

Carter Gordon came off the bench for his test debut and marked it with a breakaway consolation try in the last minute, set up by a pass from Koroibete.

Between those moments, Australia’s pack didn’t have the impact Jones was hoping for in matching the Springboks, and recalled 35-year-old first-five Quade Cooper barely touched the ball in the first half and was given no chance to influence anything in the second.

The big win was also a victory for South Africa’s strength in depth ahead of their World Cup title defence as coach Jacques Nienaber didn’t even use a string of his first-choice players, preferring to instead send them to New Zealand early to prepare for a test against the All Blacks on Saturday.

Nienaber believed many of his back-up players were good enough to beat Australia and he was proved more than right. The Springboks fielded a new lock pairing that included former Ireland international Jean Kleyn making his test debut for his country of birth. Openside flanker Marco van Staden started his first test, as did first-five Manie Libbok, and Arendse and 20-year-old right wing Canan Moodie were part of a new-look backline.

Moodie’s break down the right set up South Africa’s first try after the ball was recycled and shifted left to Arendse, who strolled over unchallenged to erase Australia’s lead eight minutes after Koroibete scored.

Arendse’s second came from a blindside move started by Van Staden, with hooker Bongi Mbonambi slipping a pass for the winger to speed in. Arendse dodged his way over from close range early in the second for the hat-trick.

South Africa were uncharacteristically expansive in the first hour of play, and threw 170 passes overall to Australia’s 101 in an attempt to find more in their arsenal than just set-piece dominance and tactical kicking.

But the Springboks pack did stamp home their dominance at the end, adding a fourth through a penalty try after Wallabies hooker Dave Porecki pulled a rolling maul down as it reached the tryline.

The second penalty try, and second yellow for the Wallabies, came when wing Suliasi Vunivalu knocked down a pass with Arendse poised to score his fourth.

Du Toit’s try with six minutes to go came after a barrage from the forwards as the Springboks finished the game in more familiar fashion.

“That will always be there. That’s in our blood,” Vermeulen said.