Wing Kurt-Lee Arendse (three), Pieter-Steph du Toit, two penalty tries saw South Africa cruise to Rugby Championship victory over Australia at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria; Manie Libbok added nine points with the boot; Marika Koroibete, Carter Gordon scored Wallabies tries in defeat
Saturday 8 July 2023 20:19, UK
Kurt-Lee Arendse notched a hat-trick as South Africa kicked off their 2023 Rugby Championship campaign with a comfortable 43-12 victory over a poor Australia at Loftus Versfeld, live on Sky Sports.
Kicking off a reduced three-week Rugby Championship format in Pretoria, Arendse scored three of the Springboks' six tries, as they also forced two penalty tries and a late Pieter-Steph du Toit effort.
Both were clear-cut decisions for referee Ben O'Keeffe after Wallabies hooker Dave Porecki collapsed a close-range rolling maul, and wing Suliasi Vunivalu intentionally knocked on a pass metres from his own try-line.
Australia actually scored the opening try as wing Marika Koroibete touched down, but Eddie Jones' side were poor thereafter and firmly second best, scoring a consolation through replacement Carter Gordon in the final play.
The Springboks picked a largely experimental side for the clash with next week's trip to face the All Blacks in New Zealand in mind, and passed up the first chance for points in the fourth minute when fly-half Libbok kicked a penalty from distance short.
Four minutes later it was the Wallabies who struck first through Koroibete, as Australia counter-attacked superbly through their back division. Hodge struck the difficult conversion wide, while the Boks narrowed the deficit to two points shortly after through the boot of Libbok.
A minute later, South Africa had their opening try through the pacey Arendse as an attack created through Willie le Roux and Canan Moodie split Australia open, before a mishandling of the ball in the 22 actually worked in SA's favour: bouncing backwards for the hosts to exploit the space out wide.
Australia co-captain Michael Hooper forced a breakdown penalty to hand centre Reece Hodge a penalty effort from near halfway, but he struck wide, and things got worse for the visitors on the half-hour mark when Arendse blazed in down the touchline off a lovely Bongi Mbonambi pop pass.
Libbok converted superbly for a 17-5 lead, but with returning Australia playmaker Quade Cooper struggling to impact proceedings, the Wallabies were firmly on the backfoot as they held on without conceding again, only for a potential try down the left to be ruled out for an incorrect in-front-of-the-kicker call by referee O'Keeffe just before half-time.
Just over 10 minutes into the second half, Arendse's hat-trick was complete as Lukanyo Am passed on after centre Andre Esterhuizen and Du Toit carried strongly to create metres in the lead-up, with Arendse cutting inside to finish brilliantly.
On 55 minutes, the result was put beyond doubt as Australia hooker Porecki was penalised for collapsing a Springbok rolling maul close to his own try-line, with a sin-bin and penalty try awarded.
The visitors almost conceded again straightaway when wing Vunivalu coughed up possession just outside his own 22, with Libbok striding in for a gift. On review with the the TMO, however, the score was correctly ruled out for a Du Toit knock-on in the tackle.
Further points were forthcoming when Vunivalu denied Arendse a potential fourth try, slapping the ball down in a clear act of foul play, with the wing sin-binned also.
Things were then all too easy for Du Toit and co to score a sixth try, as the imposing back-row needed only to pick and land over the try-line with the Wallabies stretched, increasingly resembling no more than a feeble resistance.
Gordon and Koroibete combined for a length of the field score with the clock in the red, but it left the final result no less one-sided, with Jones and co much to ponder after a disappointing display.
