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Captain Jean on the double for four-try Springboks

PUBLISHED: September 27, 2014


Captain Jean de Villiers scored two late tries to help the Springboks to an emphatic – and bonus-point clinching – 28-10 Castle Rugby Championship win over the Wallabies at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

De Villiers, in his 101st Test for South Africa, scored two tries in the final six minutes, whilst replacement flyhalf Pat Lambie weighed in with a neat cameo to help the Boks to a handy bonus point victory.

The Wallabies, earlier, went into half-time leading 10-5 and the Boks – who had initially led 5-0 after 12 minutes – finally took the lead again in the 70th minute when Lambie landed a neat drop-goal from right in front.

De Villiers then scored in the right-hand corner, with six minutes to go on the clock, before Lambie powered over after a neat show and go with a minute remaining on the stadium clock.

At 21-10 the Boks would have been satisfied – especially after absorbing all the Wallabies pressure – but the pressure eventually told as De Villiers crossed for his second try on the stroke of full-time, sending the 44,955-strong crowd into a frenzy.

The likes of Bismarck du Plessis, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger and Lambie all made their presence felt as second-half replacements, with Burger, in particular, upping the tempo in the physicality stakes when he came on with 25 minutes to go.

An emotional captain De Villiers – who led the team out before kick-off with his two young daughters in his arms – said afterwards: “There are never easy matches against the Wallabies.

“The Springbok coaching staff prepared us well this week and I must credit them and, of course, it’s always great to win (like this) in front of a great crowd like this at DHL Newlands.”

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries: Coetzee, De Villiers 2, Lambie
Con: Lambie
Pen: Lambie
DG: Lambie

For Australia:
Try: Ashley-Cooper
Con: Foley
Pen: Foley

The teams:

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 JP Pietersen.

Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga’a, 1 James Slipper
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 James Horwill, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nic White, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Rob Horne.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Mathieu Raynal (France)
Television Match Official: Graham Hughes (England)