WIZARDS OF OZ

THE Springboks should be forgiven for having to put asynlappies on their heads after gooiing weg a 22-0 lead to go down 38-22 to Australia in the Rugby Championship at Ellis Park.

South Africa entered Saturday’s game having not lost a Test to the Wallabies at Ellis Park since 1963.

That record looked like it was going to stay in tact as the Boks ran riot in the opening 20 minutes, racking up a 22-0 lead as Kurt-Lee Arendse scored the opening try from the first attacking move of the game.

A Manie Libbok penalty made it 10-0, before Pieter-Steph du Toit threw a neat offload to Andre Esterhuizen to score the Bokke’s second try for a 15-0 lead after 24 minutes.

Captain Siya Kolisi also proved his selection at No.8 was the right call as he put in a tank-emptying shift and scored SA’s third five-pointer.

The Wallabies at that stage had not touched the ball for any attacking moves.

However, they found space out wide after slick handling as Dylan Pietsch scored in the right-hand corner to make it 22-5 at the break. SA had one more kans for punte before halftime, but, instead of Libbok going for three points, the Boks opted for a lineout. The move flopped as the ball got lost.

A different Wallabies team took the field in the second half as captain Harry Wilson found space three minutes after the break to score under the posts.

At 22-12, the Boks still seemed in control, but a Libbok skip pass was intercepted by Wallaby centre Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i, who ran in from within his own half to  stun the Ellis Park crowd (22-19).

Missed tackles by Canan Moodie and Jesse Kriel saw Wilson score another try under the posts in the 64th minute, as the Aussies took the lead for the first time.

It got worse for SA, as more errors meant more points conceded, as Max Jorgensen and Tom Wright killed off the game.

Coach Rassie Erasmus and his span now have a helse kopseer to sort out ahead of this weekend’s rematch innie Kaap.

SA  22(22)– Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Andre Esterhuizen and Siya Kolisi. Conversions: Manie Libbok (2). Penalty: Libbok

AUS 38 (5) – Tries: Dylan Pietsch, Harry Wilson (2), Joseph Akuso-Suali’i, Max Jorgensen, Tom Wright. Conversions: James O’Connor (4)