Wallabies steal late win over Springboks

The Wallabies have capitalised on a late yellow card to Springboks winger Bryan Habana in his 100th Test to steal an epic 24-23 victory at the death in Perth.

Flyhalf Bernard Foley kicked his second match-winning goal in as many months after super-sub Kurtley Beale helped spark the 10-point comeback on Saturday to end the Springboks’ eight-match winning streak.

With the Wallabies looking down and out at 23-14 behind with 15 minutes to go, Habana – who had been dangerous all night – was harshly sin-binned for an apparent high tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Springboks captain Jean de Villiers pleaded with Irish referee George Clancy not to bin his teammate but it was to no avail.

Beale came on soon after to exploit the numerical advantage and earn a penalty, then combined with the Waratahs-laden backline to put Horne over in the 78th minute.

Foley, who had a mixed night in his first international outing with halves partner Nick Phipps in wet and windy conditions, then stepped up to the plate to nail a conversion 10 metres in from the sideline.

The win keeps the Mandela Challenge Plate alive, and shows the Wallabies aren’t the easybeats the All Blacks made them out to be at Eden Park two weeks ago.

And while it wasn’t scintillating end-to-end rugby, it was about as entertaining as one could have hoped for on a thoroughly saturated Patersons Stadium.

The Wallabies got off to a flyer after a leaping Israel Folau regained the kick-off.

And like he’s done so many times this season Folau finished what he started, running onto a low pass from a cool-headed Matt Toomua to cross after just 90 seconds.

Much of the visitor’s early territorial dominance was due to a strong tail wind, and they made the most of it by plugging the corners and pinning the Australians in their own territory.

The tactics worked, and the Springboks absorbed the shock start through a Morne Steyn penalty goal, then hit the front through a well constructed try to winger Cornal Hendricks.

The sides then traded two penalty goals apiece for the Boks to go up 14-11 at halftime.

While the Wallabies played the more enterprising rugby, they fell just short of being rewarded for their efforts when Ashley-Cooper lost the ball over the tryline while diving for a Toomua grubber.

The Wallabies had the strong breeze in their favour in the second half, but quickly lost their bundle, extremely poor kicking and basic errors quickly negating any advantage.

The Wallabies’ scrum was then put under severe pressure from the Boks, directly costing them two penalty goals on the back of Steyn’s reliable boot.

But Habana’s yellow card soon turned the match on its head, Australia coming from behind for a historic win.

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