Australia dominated South Africa in all aspects of the game, won 39-20 by the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday, but it was the magic of the Reds' super stars that sealed the deal.

Scrumhalf Will Genia was again the genius behind the pack, while flyhalf Quade Cooper at times toyed with the defence - as he sparked wave after wave of Australian attacks.

Genia heaped praise on the forwards, but admitted that playing alongside his Reds teammates made a huge difference.

Genia was in electric form throughout, having a hand in three of Australia's five tries.

"Playing alongside my Reds teammates is fantastic as it works well when you know the way each other play; but we need to gel together as a whole group to keep the momentum going," Genia said.

"It was a great team performance and it's always good when you have forwards going forward as that provides the platform for our whole performance.

"We are very happy with the team effort and in particular our scrum and line-out were dominant.

"We had to absorb pressure and exert dominance and our work in defence was great. We are always looking to play our game on the front foot.

Wallaby coach Robbie Deans was a relieved man after witnessing his side make amends for their shock 23-32 reverse against Samoa last Sunday.

"The set piece was good, the scrummaging was good and importantly we got our shoulders down and we can start building some momentum, which these guys will be happy with," Deans said.

"We were confident but you never presume, the boys adjusted their positions and we played some rugby this week.

"The boys who played last week were better for it and the guys who didn't probably got a shot over the bow. It was a step forward, but there's going to have be another one, we have a bit of time off now to refocus and work on some things before Eden Park where it will go up another notch."

Captain Rocky Elsom was also happy with the manner in which the Wallabies shut our the Boks.

"It was pretty close early and then we pulled away in the middle [part] of the game," Elsom said.

"However, in the end we dropped off a bit," he said of two late tries which allowed the Boks to pull back from 6-39 down to a more respectable 20-39.

He said he was happy with the way they entered the contest, the breakdown and the ball carries.

"It put us on the front foot and gave us the advantage."

Cooper was another very delighted player.

"Rugby's never very much a perfect game," Cooper said.

"So, very happy with the efforts of the boys and the way everyone just kept backing up.

"We could have scored a few more tries, but there were also a few ones that we did make.

"That try that James O'Connor did, that could have been a knock-on. But the skill that James showed there to scoop that ball up and score was just great skill."

With Australia in control at 39-13 up after 57 minutes, workaholic flank David Pocock received a taste of the captaincy when coach Robbie Deans rewarded Elsom with an early shower.

When Beale limped off in the 70th minute with a twisted ankle, Deans had the luxury of throwing reserve back row forward Scott Higginbotham onto the wing so in command were his Wallabies.

"It didn't look too bad, but you never like to presume because it can be a bit tricky," Deans said.

"He wanted to run it out but we've seen that before. We've seen Rocky play a whole game [with an ankle injury] and then was out for two months after.

"Hopefully it won't be too bad."