NEW Australia coach Robbie Deans hailed the contribution of captain Stirling Mortlock as his team chalked up their fourth straight win by beating South Africa 16-9 in a Tri-Nations match in Perth.
After Mortlock fought off two tacklers to score the only try of the second half, Deans said: "I think that probably epitomised the effort of the team really, the willingness and the desire just to get over the line.
"If you don't come with that a
gainst a team like the Springboks then you just won't be in the contest."
Mortlock's try in a tight, defensive game came in the 45th minute when he muscled his way through the South African defence 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 head knock and after Australia gave away a penalty in the scrum, Springboks fly-half Butch James closed the gap to 13-6. Mortlock was later cleared of any serious injury.
With 11 minutes left, Francois Steyn closed the gap to 13-9 before Berrick Barnes kicked a drop goal in the final minute for the Wallabies.
Australia came into the match at Subiaco Oval, their first in this year's Tri-Nations, having won only three of their past eight matches against South Africa – and just one in their past four in Perth, where South Africa enjoy a strong expatriate crowd support.
South Africa dominated the first half and Steyn kicked the Springboks into a 3-0 lead after six minutes.
However Lote Tuqiri scored against the run of play for the only try of the first half, giving the Wallabies a 5-3 half-time lead and equalling former full-back Matt Burke as Australia's fifth-highest Test try scorer with 29.
Australia play their next Tri- Nations match on 26 July against New Zealand in Sydney.
The full article contains 334 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
