Springboks end losing run

South Africa produced a fine comeback to earn their first win of this year's Tri-Nations with a 44-31 victory over Australia in Pretoria.

The Wallabies stunned the crowd at Loftus Versfeld as three tries in the first 10 minutes helped them into a 21-7 lead.

Will Genia's second-minute effort was followed up by a James O'Connor brace. Juan Smith also scored for the Springboks during a frantic opening.

The free-scoring nature of the contest continued throughout the opening half, with Gurthro Steenkamp and Pierre Spies touching down for South Africa either side of Dean Mumm adding Australia's fourth.

The visitors went into the break with a 28-24 advantage but could not hold on in the second half.

Francois Steyn's try in the 49th minute put the Springboks in front for the first time and with Australia managing just a Matt Giteau penalty during the second period, the win was sealed a minute from time by JP Pietersen, who crossed for South Africa's fifth try.

Also rans

With New Zealand having already clinched the Tri Nations title last week, the best both sides could aim for was second place in the remaining games.

The Wallabies should have been ahead inside the opening two minutes when good work from their backs set up Drew Mitchell, who looked to have scored on the left corner, only to be denied by the television official.

But it mattered little as Genia then picked up at the base of a ruck and sold a dummy to Flip van der Merwe and Victor Matfield before crossing.

After Giteau converted, the lead was extended after some exceptional manoeuvring by Kurtley Beale in his own half, which saw the full-back ghost his way past at least five Springbok defenders.

He then found Elsom and picked out O'Connor for his fifth Test try.

Another Giteau conversion followed, but the hosts finally managed to get on the board after nine minutes when Francois Hougaard's switched pass let Smith run in under the posts.

Morne Steyn added the extras, although Bryan Habana did his side little favour by gifting the advantage back to the tourists - the Stormers winger making a mess of trying to take a high ball from the kick-off, allowing O'Connor in.

Giteau made it three out of three to take the score to 21-7.

A remarkable fifth try of the game came in the 14th minute when captain John Smit cleverly chose to set up a line-out rather than take the points and he was rewarded when Matfield's powerful shift allowed Steenkamp to barge his way over with Morne Steyn converting.

A 50-yard penalty from the Springbok number 10 then cut the deficit even further and when Beale tried to do the same thing and missed, there was a sense in the home crowd that their luck was about to change.

However, it was again not to be as Mumm landed the bonus-point try for his side after 26 minutes.

Mitchell's kick in-field from the left put Habana under pressure for the second time and the ensuing tap-and-go penalty led to the Waratahs lock powering his way over.

Then, nine minutes before the break, Hougaard latched onto a pop pass, slipped through a gap and then found Spies who went over in the corner.

Rare

Morne Steyn reduced the deficit to four to complete a rare 52-point half in international rugby.

The Bulls fly-half and Giteau exchanged penalties after the restart, before

Francois Steyn, returning to the side for the first time since June, gave the hosts the lead for the first time when he dived in after several phases of build-up play by the forwards.

Morne Steyn completed a tough conversion putting Peter de Villiers' team three points ahead.

They had two chances to extend the lead, but were kept out by a resilient visiting defence, before an excellent last-ditch tackle from Hougaard on Elsom prevented them falling behind again.

Francois Steyn, noted for his booming right boot, landed a penalty from his own half to stretch the lead to six with 11 minutes to play.

Pietersen then added a late score, converted by Butch James, as the world champions closed out the win.