Australia 23-23 South Africa: All square in Perth
Last Updated: 09/09/17 2:02pm
Australia and South Africa battled to a 23-23 draw in a scrappy Rugby Championship encounter in Perth on Saturday.
Both sides scored two tries apiece with Kurtley Beale and Tatafu Polota-Nau going over for the Wallabies. Bernard Foley added two conversions plus three penalties.
The Springboks fought back from 20-10 down with Jesse Kriel and Malcolm Marx scoring their two tries while Elton Jantjies matched Foley in the kicking stakes by also adding two conversions and three penalties.
Both sides will rue missed opportunities to win this game - South Africa certainly had the upper hand at the end of the game but could not make it count.
The opening exchanges were cagey as both sides made plenty of errors and could not put together any telling attacking phases.
Australia had been making plenty of breaks but were being outmuscled at the breakdown and it was from one of a string of turnovers that the Springboks scored the first try in the 26th minute.
Scrum-half Ross Cronje quickly flipped the ball out to Jesse Kriel, who chased his own kick ahead and touched down after winger Raymond Rhule and Hooper had taken each other out.
Australia had been focusing on the restart in training and replied directly from the ensuing kickoff with Beale picking up a poor pass that looked to have stalled the attack before cutting back to slice through the blindside defence.
Bernard Foley slotted his second penalty on the stroke of halftime to give the hosts a 13-10 advantage and the converted pushover try from Polota-Nau seven minutes into the second half extended the lead to 10 points.
The Springboks struck back when Elton Jantjies kicked his second penalty to reduce the deficit before the visitors got their own rolling maul going from an attacking lineout to send Marx over to level up the scores with 20 minutes to play.
A dominant scrum in the 66th minute gave Jantjies the simplest of chances to put South Africa up 23-20 but Foley responded immediately with a long-range effort to set up a tense last 10 minutes.
South Africa had the best chance of grabbing the win, going through phase after phase inside the Australia half as time ran out but Jantjies fluffed his drop goal attempt when the ball finally came back to him.
The Springboks take on the world champions New Zealand in Auckland next week, while Australia host Argentina in Canberra.
