Boks fired by Jean to beat Wallabies

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Jean de Villiers grabbed his first opportunity at inside centre Saturday to spark the Springboks to a 33-20 victory over Australia at Ellis Park Stadium.

The victory saw South Africa retain the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate and bring to a climax a week of celebrations surrounding Mandela’s 87th birthday. After a 30-12 defeat two weeks ago in Sydney, the Springboks hit back with two intercept tries in the first half and some powerful attacking in the first 20 minutes of the second half.The Wallabies scored two late tries in the final 10 minutes to bring respectability to the scoreline.De Villiers, who played right wing in South Africa’s Tri-Nations-winning squad last year and in his country’s opening tests this year, led a backline brimming with speed, and scored South Africa’s opening try.After Percy Montgomery and Matt Giteau exchanged penalties, De Villiers anticipated a clumsy inside pass from Wallaby flyhalf Stephen Larkham, intercepted the pass, and raced 70 metres to score.The Wallabies continued to attack, but found themselves up against a determined defence which bore no relation to the one that missed 44 tackles in the 30-12 defeat two weeks ago.It was another intercept that brought South Africa’s second try.Flyhalf André Pretorius poached a careless pass from centre Stirling Mortlock and raced clear to feed Bryan Habana for the score.All the while, Montgomery was kicking his goals, adding the conversions to the tries as well as another two penalties.Australia got a try late in the first half when No.8 David Lyons ended a driving maul to dot down, but South Africa’s 23-8 lead at halftime was looking insurmountable.In the seventh minute of the second half, De Villiers got through the first line of defence and handed the ball off to his flying midfield partner Jacques Fourie for a try under the posts.Montgomery converted, and added a penalty 12 minutes later for the Springboks to lead 33-8.The Wallabies fought back in the final 10 minutes with tries by Larkham and hooker Jeremy Paul, but the Springboks had already sealed victory with some great tackling, opportunism and quality attacking.”It was an outstanding performance by the Springboks,” conceded Wallabies captain George Gregan.”We took some flak for our defences in the last match,” said Springbok coach Jake White.”But this was one of our better performances since we have been together as a team.”South African captain John Smit said: “The guys put their bodies on the line and it’s a good feeling to win a big one like this.”White paid tribute to the midfield pairing of De Villiers and Fourie, saying they had given him a tough selection problem ahead of next week’s Tri-Nations opener against the Wallabies in Pretoria.- Nampa-APAfter a 30-12 defeat two weeks ago in Sydney, the Springboks hit back with two intercept tries in the first half and some powerful attacking in the first 20 minutes of the second half.The Wallabies scored two late tries in the final 10 minutes to bring respectability to the scoreline.De Villiers, who played right wing in South Africa’s Tri-Nations-winning squad last year and in his country’s opening tests this year, led a backline brimming with speed, and scored South Africa’s opening try.After Percy Montgomery and Matt Giteau exchanged penalties, De Villiers anticipated a clumsy inside pass from Wallaby flyhalf Stephen Larkham, intercepted the pass, and raced 70 metres to score.The Wallabies continued to attack, but found themselves up against a determined defence which bore no relation to the one that missed 44 tackles in the 30-12 defeat two weeks ago.It was another intercept that brought South Africa’s second try.Flyhalf André Pretorius poached a careless pass from centre Stirling Mortlock and raced clear to feed Bryan Habana for the score.All the while, Montgomery was kicking his goals, adding the conversions to the tries as well as another two penalties.Australia got a try late in the first half when No.8 David Lyons ended a driving maul to dot down, but South Africa’s 23-8 lead at halftime was looking insurmountable.In the seventh minute of the second half, De Villiers got through the first line of defence and handed the ball off to his flying midfield partner Jacques Fourie for a try under the posts.Montgomery converted, and added a penalty 12 minutes later for the Springboks to lead 33-8.The Wallabies fought back in the final 10 minutes with tries by Larkham and hooker Jeremy Paul, but the Springboks had already sealed victory with some great tackling, opportunism and quality attacking.”It was an outstanding performance by the Springboks,” conceded Wallabies captain George Gregan.”We took some flak for our defences in the last match,” said Springbok coach Jake White.”But this was one of our better performances since we have been together as a team.”South African captain John Smit said: “The guys put their bodies on the line and it’s a good feeling to win a big one like this.”White paid tribute to the midfield pairing of De Villiers and Fourie, saying they had given him a tough selection problem ahead of next week’s Tri-Nations opener against the Wallabies in Pretoria.- Nampa-AP