Captain Stirling Mortlock fought off two tacklers to score the only try of the second half, giving Australia a 16-9 win over South Africa in a Tri-Nations rugby match Saturday. Australia's win in its first match of this year's Tri-Nations, left the World Cup-champion Springboks with a 1-2 Tri-Nations record while New Zealand is 1-1. It was the fourth straight win for the Wallabies under new coach Robbie Deans. Mortlock's try in the tight defensive game came in the 45th minute when he muscled his way through the South African defense to score in the corner. Matt Giteau missed the conversion but put Australia up 13-3 in the 51st minute with a penalty. Two minutes later, Mortlock left the field with a suspected concussion and after Australia gave away a penalty in the scrum, Springboks flyhalf Butch James closed the gap to 13-6. With 11 minutes left, Francois Steyn closed the gap to 13-9 before Berrick Barnes kicked a dropped goal in the final minute for the Wallabies. Australia came into the match at Subiaco Oval having won only three of its past eight matches against South Africa - and just one in its past four in Perth, where South Africa enjoys strong expatriate crowd support. South Africa looked set to extend that good record when it dominated much of the first half. Steyn kicked a 48-meter penalty in the sixth minute for a 3-0 lead before missing an ambitious drop goal shot in the 11th and a penalty in the 21st as the Springboks took a territorial advantage they would rarely relinquish throughout the half. However Lote Tuqiri scored against the run of play for the only try of the first half, giving the Wallabies a 5-3 halftime lead. George Smith grabbed the ball at the back of a lineout to send winger Peter Hynes charging forward and, on the ensuing play, the Wallabies backline finally clicked with some quick hands from Nathan Sharpe and Giteau to put Tuqiri over. Tuqiri equaled former Wallabies fullback Matt Burke as Australia's fifth-highest test tryscorer with 29 tries. Deans said the win was a tough one against a very physical team. “It was never going to be perfect,” Deans said. “It was a way to get through for our first Tri-Nations win.” He said his team's defense has been a feature of its victories this season - one over Ireland and two over France before Saturday's win. “That's something that comes from within,” Deans said. Peter de Villiers, the first nonwhite coach in South Africa's international rugby history dating back to 1891, said Australia deserved the win. “They outplayed us on the ground tonight, they were more clinical,” de Villiers said. “It wasn't pretty, but it was good to be part of a test like this.” The Springboks return home Sunday after three weeks in New Zealand and Australia. They play their three remaining Tri-Nations matches in South Africa - the All Blacks in Cape Town on Aug. 16 and then back-to back-matches against the Wallabies on Aug. 23 in Durban and Aug. 30 in Johannesburg. Australia plays its next Tri-Nations match on July 26 against New Zealand at Sydney.
