Pretoria — South Africa started the Rugby Championship with an emphatic win over Australia on Saturday, running in six tries in a 43-12 romp.
Despite conceding the first try in the opening minutes, the Springboks never panicked and took control with a powerful forward display and some silky backline runs.
IOL Sport's Leighton Koopman looks at five moments that stood out from the clash.
The Wallabies were finished by KLA's hattrick
Kurt-Lee Arendse somehow finds the try line when it looks impossible to do so. His first try was an easy run-in, the second one came after he peeled down the blindside touch along with flanker Marco van Staden and hooker Bongi Mbonambi. It was a beautiful blindside move that caught the Wallaby defenders napping.
But the manner in which the left winger scored his third try probably has the Australian defence coach scratching his head. Three defenders swooped on him on the touchline, but Arendse somehow stepped and wiggled his way through them to dive over for the hat trick.
This try summed up his quality and ability to dazzle defenses with limited space.
‘Eskom’ knocking their lights out early on
After finding the first try, the Wallabies looked good on the attack. But their rampaging runners like Will Skelton and Rob Valetini quickly found out that there won't be any easy ways through the Springboks' defence.
Bok flanker Marco ‘Eskom’ van Staden put in one of the first big hits when he showed Valetini it was a mistake running head-on to him. Van Staden lifted his poles and shut him down early on. What made this play special is that the fetcher then got up and won the ball at the breakdown shortly after putting in that massive hit.
That turnover penalty gave the Boks time for a breather after defending the Wallabies and the resulting penalty allowed them to find touch inside the opposition's half for an attack.
Early scrum dominance cracked the Wallabies' back
Things started going the way of the Boks and awry for the Aussies when Allan Alaalatoa and James Slipper literally started slipping against Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe.
It was especially Alaalatoa who struggled to deal with Kitshoff on the tighthead side of the scrum. The Boks had the advantage and won a fair amount of penalties in the scrum early on.
The domination was kept up when Thomas du Toit and Vincent Koch joined the fray in the second half, and after the platform was laid in the first forty, the replacements found it way easier to walk with the Wallaby pack almost every time they packed down for a scrum.
It allowed the Boks the freedom to attack from a dominant scrum or kick a penalty for a maul.
A mauling by the forwards
Speaking about the Bok maul, it was brilliant to see the rumbling of the forwards after a lineout. Although they varied their play from the throw-ins, there's little as intimidating and as beautiful at the same time when the Springboks go on a trot with rolling mauls and the opposition forwards are flung from it one by one trying to stop it.
That penalty-try rolling maul that saw Wallaby hooker David Porecki yellow-carded was a thing of beauty. The returning RG Snyman ranked high for the lineout ball and deposited it to the front of the Boks forwards, and Porecki found himself almost solo trying to stop the storming Springbok forwards.
He pulled the maul down before the try line and prevented a certain try for which he was yellow-carded and the home side walked away with seven points.
Running from their 22m line
It was a breath of fresh air to see the Springboks running from their 22m line whenever the opportunity presented itself.
That's thanks to Manie Libbok and Willie le Roux who along with Arendse and Canan Moodie caused absolute havoc when the Boks' backs had a meter or two of space.
Le Roux and Libboks' distribution created space out wide which Moodie and Arendse exploited time and again. The two wingers beat their opponents time and again, and although some plays did not lead to tries, the opportunities and space created were a sign of a Bok team that can vary their playing style effectively whether they are in their half or in that of their opponents.
IOL Sport