Foley bags a draw against Springboks
SOUTH AFRICA maintained their unbeaten start to the Rugby Championship, but Bernard Foley’s penalty 10 minutes from time secured an entertaining draw for Australia in Perth yesterday.
The Springboks had beaten Argentina home and away, and seemed set for a third successive win after bouncing back from 20-10 down to lead by three points, only for Foley to split the posts after Will Genia had been taken out at the base of a ruck. The Australian fly-half and his South African counterpart, Elton Jantjies, traded early penalties before Jesse Kriel went over after latching on to his own kick, with Jantjies adding the extras.
Australia, beaten twice by New Zealand in recent weeks, immediately hit back when Kurtley Beale’s nimble footwork took him past several Boks players. Foley converted and then nailed a penalty to give the Wallabies a 13-10 half-time lead.
Tatafu Polota-Nau furthered the home side’s advantage after dotting down from a driving maul but Jantjies’ penalty narrowed the deficit to seven points before Malcolm Marx dived over for a try confirmed by the TMO.
Jantjies made no mistake with the conversion and inched South Africa ahead with a scrum penalty but, after his side were pegged back by an error at the ruck, the fly-half saw a late drop goal attempt charged down as the sides settled for a share of the spoils.