Wallabies stun world champions Springboks in dramatic finish
Australia's Wallabies beat top-ranked South Africa 42-38 in a chaotic rugby Test in Perth, holding on with as few as 11 players on the field after a string of late yellow cards.
Match summary
On Sunday, 27 September, at Optus Stadium in Perth, the Wallabies faced the world's top-ranked team and reigning champions, the Springboks, in an international rugby union Test. Australia won 42-38, but the path to victory was extraordinarily dramatic.
In the first half both sides traded tries: South Africa's Grobbelaar opened the scoring (10'), Australia's Ikitau replied twice (25', 28'), before Van der Merwe (30') and Donaldson (39') also crossed. The Wallabies led 24-17 at the break.
Australia appeared to take control after the interval, extending their lead through penalties from Lonergan and tries from Wilson (60') and Jorgensen — timed at the 66th minute by The Guardian's live blog but at the 64th minute by ABC News — pushing the score to 42-17.
Chaotic finish, cards galore
The final quarter turned chaotic. Referee Andrea Piardi awarded South Africa a penalty try around the 71st minute after a series of scrum resets, with Wallabies scrum-half Lonergan sin-binned for offside in the same passage of play. Suaalii was then yellow-carded for a professional foul in defence, and later Paisami was sent to the bin for a high tackle — a decision that also wiped out an intercept try Tom Wright had scored moments earlier. At one point Australia were down to just 11 players against South Africa's full complement.
Despite being heavily undermanned, the Wallabies' defence held. South Africa's Ox Nche did score a converted try in the 80th minute, but it was not enough to change the outcome — Australia won 42-38.
Background
South Africa's replacements bench — featuring Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche and Jasper Wiese, who was playing his 50th Test — had been dubbed a "bomb squad" before kick-off; most of these players had recently helped the Springboks win a Test series against New Zealand 3-1. The Wallabies, coached by Les Kiss, also handed a first Test start on the wing to Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. The win over the world's No. 1-ranked side is a significant result for Kiss's rebuilding side.
