Springboks survive late scare

Tri-Nations/South Africa - 23 Australia - 19: South Africa survived two late yellow cards to win their second Tri-Nations title with a rousing 23-19 triumph over Australia in Durban on Saturday

Referee Paddy O'Brien sin-binned Percy Montgomery with 11 minutes to go and right wing Breyton Paulse with a minute left on the clock. But the Springboks held on to win their first Southern Hemisphere championship since 1998, despite the Wallabies scoring through flanker George Smith in the 78th minute.

Australia scored three tries to South Africa's two, but the Springboks controlled the match with aggressive forward play

South Africa spent most of the opening quarter in Australia's half, but the Wallabies kept them out with sound defence and superiority in the scrums. Both Montgomery and Wallaby centre Matt Giteau missed shots at goal before the deadlock was broken with eight minutes left in the first half when Australian winger Lote Tuqiri scored after fielding Clyde Rathbone's grubber kick up the left touchline.

Montgomery pulled three points back with a penalty on the half-time hooter but missed another attempt two minutes after the break.

The Springboks went ahead 10-7 in the 44th minute after Paulse hoisted a kick into the Australian 22-metre area. The ball bounced loose, and lock Victor Matfield followed up to score. Montgomery converted.

South Africa surged into a 10-point lead in the 52nd minute when number eight Joe van Niekerk scored in the left corner after O'Brien awarded the Springboks a free kick for time wasting by Australia's lineout. Montgomery converted again and then kicked two long-range penalties to make the score 23-7 with 18 minutes left in the match.

But the full back was yellow carded for tackling Chris Latham in the air and the visitors made the most of the advantage when centre Stirling Mortlock scored their second try. Giteau added the conversion to make it 23-14 with nine minutes left. Paulse got his marching orders for offside as the Springboks scrambled to hang on to their lead and Smith crashed over in the left corner. Matt Burke, who replaced Mortlock in the 75th minute, missed a difficult conversion.

Australia mounted a last-gasp attack as the final hooter blared, but a kick up the left screwed into touch and the South African celebrations began. "No doubt about it, the better team won on the day," Australia coach Eddie Jones said. "We didn't play well today, the game was like a grand final with lots of unforced errors. We had an awful 20-minute period after half-time, it was our worst 20 minutes of the season."

"It's pretty special to win the Tri-Nations, and you just have to see what's happening outside to know what this means to all South Africans," said Springbok coach Jake White. "At half-time the players looked nervous, they were almost looking past me. I told them not to be scared of winning, but to be scared of not playing (as well as they could)."

"Last week was a turning point for us because it meant we would be tested in an all-or-nothing match like this one," Springbok captain John Smit said.

SOUTH AFRICA: P Montgomery; B Paulse, M Joubert, D Wet Barry, J de Villiers; J van der Westhuyzen, B Conradie (Fourie du Preez, 40 mins); Os du Randt (H Shimange, 79 mins), J Smit (capt), E Andrews (CJ van der Linde, 67 mins), B Botha, V Matfield, S Burger (J Cronje, 37-40 mins, 79), AJ Venter (Gerrie Brtiz, 64 mins), J van Niekerk.

AUSTRALIA: C Latham; C Rathbone (W Sailor, 61 mins), S Mortlock (M Burke, 75 mins), M Giteau, L Tuqiri; S Larkham, G Gregan (capt); B Young (M Dunning, 66 mins), B Cannon (J Paul, 61 mins), A Baxter, N Sharpe (D Vickerman, 55 mins), G Smith (Roe, 26-37 mins), P Waugh, D Lyons (J Roe, 69 mins).

Referee: P O'Brien (New Zealand)