Peter de Villiers is delighted with South Africa's unbeaten start to the Tri-Nations.
South Africa maintain unbeaten record in Tri-Nations
South Africa coach Peter de Villiers was delighted with his side's "brilliant" form after the 29-17 success over Australia in Cape Town.
Morne Steyn led the way with 24 points as the world champions extended their lead at the top of the Tri Nations table.
The Springboks have now won three straight games in the competition, having preceded their victory against the Wallabies with back-to-back wins over the All Blacks.
"As a coach you can never be satisfied, and you'll always go for better," De Villiers said.
"But it's working well at the moment, it's brilliant.
"I've said it before, this team has come a long way and you would have seen it on the field today.
"The players read the (match) situations very well. We are kind of where we want to be."
Credit
The coach was also full of praise for the Australians, who had three of their players - Matt Giteau, Richard Brown and George Smith - yellow carded but still managed to stay in the game.
He said: "We struggled after half-time but the opposition did not allow us to play. There were a lot of opportunities out there but it's true they closed us down very quickly.
"When they were two yellows cards down they played bravely. They did well by not allowing us to play."
Captain John Smit was equally pleased with the way the game had panned out but, like his coach, paid tribute to the resilient Wallabies.
"They played incredibly clever rugby when they were two players short," he said. "Before half-time, which was a crucial stage of the match, they were accurate.
"They had to work through the handicap as well as cope with the pressure that we tried to apply."
Penalty count
Australia coach Robbie Deans lamented his side's yellow-card count, a factor he judged key in the final outcome.
"The yellow cards made life a lot harder but it was a pretty good effort with 13 men," Deans said.
"Our defence was good under the circumstances but our energy was sapped.
"The cards didn't help our prospects in the game, though. I'm not sure of the number of penalties we gave away but I think eight out of 13 were shots at goal, seven were converted and that makes life very difficult.
"When you score two tries to one, you don't normally lose, but we gave away too many penalties."
