Springboks beat Wallabies 33-7 in Rugby Championship at Lang Park

In short:

The Springboks claimed victory in the Rugby Championship by defeating the Wallabies in Brisbane.

The 33-7 defeat was Australia’s first since Joe Schmidt took over as coach.

What’s next?

The Wallabies and Springboks will meet next Saturday at Perth Stadium in the second round of the Rugby Championship.

Winger Kurt-Lee Arendse scored twice as South Africa equalled their biggest win over the Wallabies on Australian soil by beating the error-ridden hosts 33-7 in the opening Rugby Championship match in Brisbane on Saturday.

The world champions added New Zealand attack coach Tony Brown to their technical squad to instill a more possession-based style of play, which was on full display as they scored five tries, with Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kwagga Smith all adding points.

An inexperienced Australian side struggled to gain control of the game, were dominated in the scrum and in the break, and suffered their first defeat under new coach Joe Schmidt.

However, they did manage to score a try through centre Hunter Paisami despite the away side having 13 players remaining in their squad due to yellow cards.

It gives Schmidt plenty to think about ahead of the second Rugby Championship clash in Perth next Saturday, after the Springboks equalled their record of a 38-12 victory in Brisbane in 2013.

“As a group we said it was a big game for us and we had to win it. I’m proud of the boys,” said Springboks captain Kolisi.

“We stuck to what we had planned this week, we are a learning team, coach Tony is trying to make us play differently in attack.

“When you’re at the top you have to make sure you take your chances and we conceded a few lineouts in key areas. That’s an area we need to improve.”

The visitors scored their first try after an innovative attack.

Ben-Jason Dixon picked up the ball at the set piece and immediately passed it to Eben Etzebeth, who was also in the air. That changed the focus of the attack and the Springboks were able to get the ball over the line through Kolisi.

The home defence played strongly in the first quarter but conceded a second goal when Du Toit burst across the goal line with Australia left without a defender.

The hosts’ relentless pressure culminated in a yellow card for winger Andrew Kellaway, who hauled Springboks playmaker Cobus Reinach off his feet and brought him down with a header.

South Africa dominated the scrum and turned down two penalty opportunities in favour of set pieces, the second of which saw Arendse pick up a loose ball and race past a static home defence to score under the posts, with the visitors leading 21-0 at the break.

It took the Springboks 22 minutes of the second half to score their fourth try, with Smith’s tenacious coverage and attacking play allowing him to break through over the bar.

Another attack came shortly afterwards, with centre Jesse Kriel breaking through two tired tacklers and passing the ball to Arendse, who scored a simple goal.

Late in the match, South Africa lost striker Malcolm Marx and striker Marco van Staden to yellow cards for playing with a penalty box, which allowed Paisami to cross into the corner.

“You’ve got to give South Africa credit, they came in tonight and put us under pressure. We didn’t have the ball for most of the first half,” said Australian captain Allan Alaalatoa.

“It’s a tough learning curve for our group but we need to pull ourselves together and head back to Perth next week.”

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Reuters Agency