Pollard shines as South Africa bounce back to beat Australia in Rugby Championship | Rugby Championship

Handré Pollard put in a commanding performance at fly-half as a more pragmatic South Africa beat Australia 30-22 in their second Rugby Championship Test under rain in Cape Town to reignite the defence of their title.

Australia stunned the world champions 38-22 in their competition opener in Johannesburg last weekend as the hosts tried to play an expansive gameplan with ball in hand and were picked off. This time round they turned it into an aerial contest, marshalled superbly by Pollard, who kicked 15 points to go with tries by the wing Canan Moodie, the No 8 Kwagga Smith and the lock Eben Etzebeth.

Australia were in the fight all the way and put in another excellent display as they scored three tries through wings Corey Toole and Max Jorgensen, and the hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa, but a good old-fashioned arm-wrestle is the Springboks’ forte.

“It was greasy out there but we played well,” Pollard said. “Our defence was good at times, though we also gave away some silly penalties. There is a lot to work on, but we take this result.

“We have wings who are unbelievable in the air and it is something the boys put a lot of effort into. We know there is a bigger plan with our squad and we trust the process. Our forwards also stepped up in those last 10 minutes to win us some penalties.”

Australia may rue that the bounce of the ball that did not go their way at times, but it was another performance full of character and fight. Fraser McReight, captaining the side in the absence through injury of Harry Wilson, said: “It was a great physical battle out there and I am super proud of my boys. We fought right to the end. It has been a tough two weeks over here. There were a few moments where if we got the ball back our way, the result could have been different. But that is the beauty of rugby.”

Australia lost the full-back Tom Wright and the scrum-half Nic White to injury in the first 13 minutes, and the centre Joseph Suaalii at half-time, but their bench again came up trumps again to keep them within touching distance of the Springboks.

A try for Toole on debut briefly had Australia in front early on, but South Africa led 20-10 at the break despite the visitors seeing plenty of possession.

Australia had the chance to take the lead with 12 minutes remaining but the fly-half James O’Connor missed a relatively simple conversion.

With the game in the balance, Etzebeth’s stretch close to the line extended South Africa’s lead to eight points and they held on for what was a much-needed victory after their second-half capitulation in Johannesburg.