Phil Waugh capped a man-of-the-match performance with a late try Saturday as world champion Australia clinched an uninspiring 29-9 Tri-Nations win over South Africa and ended its worst losing stretch since 1995.
Elton Flatley landed seven goals from seven attempts for a 19-point haul as the Australians rebounded from a 50-21 loss to the All Blacks last week and avenged a 26-22 upset loss to the Springboks in Cape Town last month.
"It was a massive effort," said Wallabies skipper George Gregan. ``We spoke about being patient, working hard and it paid off in the end. We hung in there.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"There's strong believe in this team and we want to make sure we use this as momentum."
Gregan, who is expected to lead the Wallabies when Australia hosts the Oct. 10-Nov. 22 World Cup, improved his record to 10 wins and nine losses since replacing John Eales as captain in 2001.
The Springboks were twice reduced to 14 men, with Danie Coeztee sinbinned in the 39th minute for a professional foul and replacement prop Robbie Kempson yellow carded for a trip in the 67th.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Waugh scored two minutes from regulation time, diving into the right corner on the end of a three-man overlap. No. 8 Toutai Kefu injured his neck in a crunching tackle in the leadup to the last scoring movement and was taken to a nearby hospital.
After a tryless opening period, outside center Mat Rogers crossed a minute after the halftime break when he swooped on a misdirected cut-out pass from Louis Koen and sprinted 40 meters to give the Australians a 13-6 lead.
Koen landed his third penalty goal three minutes later to reduce the margin to four points and Rogers broke the midfield defense again soon after the restart, sending the ball wide to an unmarked Wendell Sailor, who couldn't handle the pass on the right wing.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Flatley kicked his third and fourth penalties to extend the lead to 10 points just on the hour. The Springboks' best chance came soon after, when Ashwin Willemse beat Steve Larkham to a Koen chip kick in-goal, only for referee Paddy O'Brien to rule that the South African winger had knocked-on.
In a dour first half, Flatley and Koen traded two penalties apiece for a 6-6 scoreline.
Koen missed a routine shot from 30 meters in the 33rd minute which would have broken the deadlock, while the Wallabies twice elected for scrums instead of penalties in the two minutes before halftime while Coetzee was in the sin bin.
The Wallabies dominated possession throughout and looked dangerous in attack, breaking the line four times in each half, but appeared to lack options from broken field play.
Australia went into the match on consecutive losses to England, South Africa and New Zealand. A fourth loss would have been its worst stretch since 1982.
The Springboks travel to Dunedin with a 1-2 record in the series and hoping to avoid another massive loss to the All Blacks, who scored seven tries in a 52-16 win at Pretoria two weeks ago.
New Zealand leads the Tri-Nations with a maximum 10 points, with Australia and South Africa on five points and South Africa on four.
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