Australia recovered from a nightmare start to beat South Africa 25-17 at Sydney's Olympic stadium and extend their lead at the top of the Tri-Nations standings.

The Australians followed up their surprise win over New Zealand last weekend with a hard-fought victory, coming from 17-0 down after 10 minutes against a Springbok team missing most of their top players after coach Jake White decided to save them for this year's World Cup in France.

Wing Mark Gerrard, flanker Stephen Hoiles and centre Matt Giteau scored tries for the Wallabies after flanker Wikus van Heerden and wing Breyton Paulse crossed for the South Africans.

All the South African points came in the first half, with the Wallabies dominating the second.

The final leg of the annual series takes place in New Zealand over the next fortnight with the All Blacks hosting South Africa on July 14th then Australia a week later.