The Wallabies produced a second-half performance that will reverberate around the rugby world as they broke a 62-year drought in Johannesburg with a thrilling 38-22 win over the world champion Springboks in the first Castle Lager Rugby Championship test.
It was a result no one would have seen coming, particularly when the Boks were bossing the game in the first half, and after they powered into a 22-0 lead after just 17 minutes.
That was when skipper Siya Kolisi went over for the third Bok try and, in the Emirates Airlines Park press box, we were envisaging a repeat of the 61-22 win over the Aussies at Loftus in what became Carel du Plessis’ last game as Bok coach in 1997, or the 50-pointer here at Ellis Park in 2008 under the coaching of Peter de Villiers.
Australia win at Emirates Airline Park for the first time in the professional era 🇦🇺💥#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/Q4rdCDiWXo
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 16, 2025
The Boks were imperious and, aside from some really poor lineouts, a plague that lasted the entire game, almost faultless in that period, and indeed for the rest of the half. The Wallabies hardly had any ball in the first half, and although Dylan Peitch scored a break-out Aussie try in the 28th minute, which in retrospect was an ominous warning of what was to come later, the Boks were still well in control.
WALLABIES DID WELL TO HANG IN
Indeed, what the Wallabies did brilliantly in that period was to scramble on defence, with the Boks often held up just metres short. Had they got another try in that period, which they came so close to, and gone to the break 24 points ahead, that might well have been game, set and match for the Boks.
But they didn’t score, and after going to the break 22-5 up, they conceded a try less than two minutes into the second half that, for the first time, induced a nervous feeling in the typically partisan home crowd. Even then, it felt far from a 10-point game, and the Boks continued to attack. But they were guilty of not mixing up their game enough, suddenly also eschewing the kicking that saw them enjoy perfection in the early aerial battle.
There were warning signs, such as the ease with which the Aussies suddenly appeared to outstrip the Boks down the flanks when they did have the ball.
Plus, and this was a big one, the Boks started to give away penalties towards the end of their initial purple patch that were compounded and became a stream of infractions later, with the count for the Boks quite late in the game being only four.
PENALTIES ALLOWED VISITORS BREATHING SPACE
That allowed the Wallabies some breathing space and to get into the game and effect a momentum shift that looked so unlikely when they looked set to be buried earlier on.
The Wallabies sense an upset at Ellis Park 😲
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 16, 2025
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The Boks played fast and furious rugby throughout the first hour, and let it be said that perhaps that conspired against them. Towards the end, it was the Wallabies who were strong and the Boks who were falling off tackles and looking tired. Maybe, like some overseas teams have done here over the years, they were guilty of running themselves off their own feet.
Tom Wright wraps it up for the Wallabies 🇦🇺🏉
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 16, 2025
They win at Ellis Park for the first time since 1963 📚#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/XqJ99vvps9
Let it be said that the eagerness for the Boks to play wide and fast and furious played into the Wallabies' hands in terms of some of the tries given away, such as the third Wallaby score, an easy intercept snapped up by the Australian centre Joseph Akuso-Suaalii that brought the visitors to within three points.
By then, the Aussies, who looked cowed and bereft of anything other than defensive determination in the early stages, had gained confidence, and like the great French teams of the past, that led to unstoppable momentum. The Boks conceded 38 unanswered points from the 17th-minute Kolisi try. When did that last happen to a Bok team?
FREAK SHOW
It was a freak show, that’s the best way to put it, and the Boks, once condemned to playing catch-up, conspired further against themselves as errors made on attack led to telling transition attacks from the Wallabies.
Our isiXhosa commentators loved André Esterhuizen's first Test try 😂🇿🇦
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 16, 2025
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The Wallabies deserve immense credit, but the Boks should have adjusted their game and didn’t. There were hardly any driving mauls in the game, if indeed there were any, and while they were brilliant on attack in the first half, they were naive not to mix their game up more than they did.
There was a clear intent from the Boks to run their opponents off their feet, but it was an approach that rebounded, and instead, it was the hosts who were blowing air bubbles later on. As mentioned earlier, it has happened here before, but it is usually the overseas team that is caught out.
The Boks took just 94 seconds to score their first try, dotted down by Kurt-Lee Arendse after the Boks, as they did often in the first part of the game, won an aerial battle and then attacked with telling effect.
A Manie Libbok penalty then made it 10-0 after nine minutes, then came a brilliantly executed try for inside centre Andre Esterhuizen, followed by the Kolisi score. It was all going the Bok way. But they didn’t score for the remaining 63 minutes of the match and it was the Australians who, for the first time since 1963, left this venue victorious. For the Boks, it was a chastening wake-up call.
SCORES
Australia 38 - Tries: Dylan Pietsch, Harry Wilson 2, Joseph Akuso-Sua’ali, Jorgensen, Tom Wright; Conversions: James O’Connor 4.
South Africa 22 - Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Andre Esterhuizen and Siya Kolisi; Conversions: Manie Libbok 2; Penalty: Manie Libbok.