Australia 42-38 South Africa: Wallabies finish with 11 men but hang on for victory in extraordinary Perth Test

Australia beat South Africa 42-38 in Perth on Sunday after losing four players to yellow cards inside the final 11 minutes, seeing out the match with just 11 men on the field.

Italian referee Andrea Piardi reached for his pocket four times in the space of eight minutes, at one stage speaking to his television match official by mobile phone after the communication equipment failed as the Springboks scored three times to turn a 25-point deficit into a four-point one.

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Harry Wilson went first, binned in the 69th minute for a high tackle following a video review. Ryan Lonergan followed two minutes later for diving into the back of a ruck, with South Africa awarded a penalty try for the professional foul.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was next, ruled offside on review after a Springboks try had been disallowed. Hunter Paisami then went for a high tackle in the build-up to a Tom Wright interception try that was itself overturned, a score that would have put Australia 47-31 clear in the 76th minute.

Instead, the Wallabies were left with 11 men defending an 11-point lead and four minutes to survive.

Replacement prop Ox Nche crossed in the last minute to bring it back to four. South Africa had time for one more push before the clock ran out on them.

"It was a crazy last 10 minutes," said Wilson. "But that first 70 minutes, the way we played, we implemented our game plan. We did exactly what we wanted."

Australia head coach Les Kiss, who has now won all five of his Tests in charge, described the finish as "bizarre".

He added: "In those moments, you've just got to hold your nerve and stay clear about what you want to do and I think they did that.

"But I don't want us to forget about the first 60. I think it was a really important step up for us to take that game forward, control the game and really be brave and attack the game."

Springboks pay for first-half errors

South Africa had started far better, Johan Grobbelaar's converted try and a Handre Pollard penalty putting them 10-3 up inside 10 minutes.

Centre Len Ikitau turned the game in the hosts' favour, scoring in the 23rd minute and again in the 27th, and although Edwill van der Merwe crossed on the half-hour, Ben Donaldson's try before the interval sent Australia in 24-17 ahead.

Wilson added a fourth before Max Jorgensen pounced on a Springboks mistake and ran 60 metres in the 64th minute to make it 42-17.

It was South Africa's first Test since they won the Greatest Rivalry series against New Zealand 3-1, and Rassie Erasmus made 13 changes to the side that beat the All Blacks 43-28 in Baltimore a fortnight ago, with only Eben Etzebeth and Ethan Hooker keeping their places.

"They capitalised on all our errors and I think discipline let us down, especially in that first half," said Springboks skipper Andre Esterhuizen. "We let them in too many times and that really hurt us."

Lonergan finished with 17 points from four conversions and three penalties as Australia held on for a memorable victory.