Australia Wallabies kicked off their 2010 TriNations campaign with a sound 30-13 victory over South Africa's struggling Springboks.
South Africa have now played three matches and lost all three but crucially they have also failed to gain any points at all on the table and have a points deficit of -51 points.
Australia's Wallabies are now second and New Zealand's All Blacks lead the table after securing two bonus point wins against South Africa's Springboks.
As Australia failed to secure a bonus point New Zealand will be strong favourites to take the title as they only play South Africa once in South Africa and Australia must face them twice in South Africa where they are traditionallly much stronger.
Australia though cannot be written off though as they host the All Blacks twice in Australia and the first of those matches is next week in Melbourne.
South Africa suffered the same fate as they have done in all of their TriNations matches after they lost centre Jaque Fourie in the fourth minute for a spear tackle.
Australia however failed to capitalise on the numbers advantage and only scored the first points of the match when Fourie was back on.
Springbok indiscipline again proved costly as Quade Cooper and Matt Giteau kept the Wallabies in the lead and then just before half time Matt Giteau sold a dummy and passed to Drew Mitchell who scored the firts try of the match for a half time lead of 17-3.
South Africa had players sent off in each of their losses to New Zealand and had two players unavailable for the Australia test due to suspension.
Australia continued to rip through the South African defence after the break but poor finishing let them down again and it took penalties from Giteau and O'Connor to pull them into a 23-3 lead.
Wallaby Cooper became the third player to receive a yellow card in the match for his dangerous lifting tackle on opposing fly-half Steyn midway through the half.
The South Africans refused to give in and Fourie scored after a John Smit pass in the 62nd minute to bring the scores to 23-8.
The Springboks scored their second try eight minutes from time when prop Gurthro Steenkamp ploughed over in a rolling maul of a lineout win, but scrum-half Ruan Pienaar failed to convert.
The Wallabies wrapped it up with scrum-half Genia scampering over five minutes from the end for a try converted by O'Connor.
"We are very aware of what we have to do over the next three or four weeks before we get our next chance to rectify things," Springbok skipper John Smit said.
"Our defence and breakdowns have been poor and our attack has been ordinary so we have a helluva lot to work on and it is going to have to come from us if we are going to change things around."
"Very happy with the performance. A lot of stuff to be proud of -particularly the defense," Australia coach Robbie Deans said.
"They were desperate, they threw everything at us and we hung on."
Deans said it was frustrating Australia didn't convert more of its scoring opportunities, but was impressed with the commitment at the breakdown and the consistent supply of possession.
"We didn't profit as much as we would have liked," he said, "but we kept at it - it was good."
"We are disappointed we are not taking points back for the people in South Africa," Springboks skipper John Smit said.
Final score Australia 30 South Africa 13
Scorers
Australia
Tries - D Mitchell, W Genia
Pen - M Giteau 5, Q Cooper
Con - J O'Connor
Drop -
Cards - Quade Cooper
South Africa
Tries - J Fourie, G Steenkamp
Pen - M Steyn
Con -
Drop -
Cards - J Fourie , BJ Botha
Attendance: 44 284
Referee: George Clancy (IRL)
Teams
Australia - Adam Ashley-Cooper; James O’Connor, Rob Horne, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell; Quade Cooper, Will Genia; Richard Brown, David Pocock, Rocky Elsom (captain); Nathan Sharpe, Dean Mumm; Salesi Ma’afu, Saia Fainga'a, Benn Robinson.
Reserves: Stephen Moore, James Slipper, Rob Simmons, Ben McCalman, Luke Burgess, Berrick Barnes, Kurtley Beale.
South Africa - Zane Kirchner; Gio Aplon, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Bryan Habana; Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar; Pierre Spies, Ryan Kankowski, Schalk Burger; Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw; BJ Botha, John Smit (captain), Gurthro Steenkamp.
Reserves: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Flip van der Merwe, Dewald Potgieter, Francois Hougaard, Butch James, Juan de Jongh.
