Boks beat Wallabies
South Africa scrapes to 14-13 win over Australia
Posted: Saturday July 18, 1998 12:13 PM
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The Springboks' Joost van der Westhuizen is tackled by Australia's Phil Kearns in South Africa's 14-13 win (AP) |
PERTH, Australia (Reuters) -- South Africa held on to beat Australia 14-13 in a tense Tri-Nations match on Saturday that was dominated by tactical kicking and marred by poor handling.
The Wallabies outscored South Africa by two tries to one, but poor goal kicking by Australian fullback Matthew Burke cost his side the match on the slippery surface in Perth.
Burke, the hero of Australia's victory over New Zealand last week, managed only one penalty from five attempts at goal, missing one from in front of the posts late in the second half that would have put Australia in front.
The game was plagued by handling errors from both sides as rain swept across Subiaco Oval, forcing the fly halves to resort to kicking for territory.
"It's obviously disappointing. We just can't make that many mistakes and expect to win test matches," Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen said.
"I really think we should have won that game," he said, referring to a mountain of dropped balls and a lack of cohesion at the back of the scrum.
Springbok coach Nick Mallett acknowledged his side had not dominated the match and said South Africa was lucky Burke had not delivered the coup-de-grace late in the second half.
"It wasn't a convincing win," Mallett said.
"The whole week Matt Burke has been brilliant and a record scorer and suddenly the poor guy misses one in front of the poles that probably lost them the match," he said.
Burke scored all of Australia's points in their 24-16 victory over New Zealand last Saturday in Melbourne, their first win over the All Blacks in four years.
Australia started their second match of the southern hemisphere series at a blistering pace and shocked the South Africans with a clinically-taken try in the corner by winger Ben Tune in the second minute.
But the South Africans fought back and dominated possession for the rest of the half thanks to superior tactical kicking by fly-half Henry Honiball.
A cheeky try by scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen from a quick tap penalty meters from the Wallaby line pulled the Springboks back into the match.
The try made van der Westhuizen the Springbok's highest try scorer with 21 touch downs, taking him one ahead of winger James Small.
Macqueen questioned the legality of the try, which he said was scored when many of the Wallabies were distracted by another ball illegally on the field at the same time.
"That was perhaps a bit of a mishap by the referee [New Zealand's Colin Hawke]."
Australia scored again in the second half through half-back George Gregan, but failed to take their chances against South Africa in the final frenzied minutes.
"Their defense was very swarming at the end there and we just couldn't get through," Australian captain John Eales said.
Australia and South Africa are now equal first at the top of the Tri-Nations table in the series with one win each. The three teams play each other twice.
The Springboks play New Zealand in Wellington next Saturday.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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