The Wallabies bounced back from last week's shock loss to record a convincing and deserved 39-20 win over a very poor Springbok team.
The win in Sydney, by five tries to two, showed that the Wallabies are serious World Cup contenders and a real threat to New Zealand - both in terms of the Tri-Nations and the global showpiece later in the year.
As it is, the win ensured the Wallabies retained the Mandela Challenge Plate, a trophy competed for between these two countries.
The scoreline certainly flatters the South Africans, who were never in the game and leaked tries at crucial stages - apart from the manner in which they handed possession back to the Australians at regular intervals.
As for the Aussies, they again showed all their creative skills and ability to make use of the opportunities presented to them - something the Boks certainly did all game long.
Soft tries - two inside two minutes early in the first half and another two early in the second half - was all the Wallabies needed.
Once the victory was sealed - at 39-6 in the 55th minute - the Aussies took their foot off the gas and two late consolation scores gave the visitors' scoreline some credibility.
The scorers:
For Australia:
Tries: Alexander, Ioane, O'Connor, Moore, Ashley-Cooper
Cons: O'Connor 4
Pens: O'Connor 2
For South Africa:
Tries: Ralepelle, Smit
Cons: Lambie 2
Pens: Steyn 2
Teams:
Australia: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Pekahou Cowan, 18 Nathan Sharpe, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Anthony Fainga'a.
South Africa: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Dean Greyling
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Ryan Kankowski , 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Adrian Jacobs, 22 Patrick Lambie
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Keith Brown (New Zealand), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)
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