Australia hold off South Africa 42-38 despite four late yellow cards

Australia survived four late yellow cards to beat South Africa 42-38 in Perth, holding off a comeback after being reduced to 11 players. BBC Sport reported that the Wallabies scored five tries and led the world champions by 25 points with 16 minutes remaining, before a succession of disciplinary setbacks brought the visitors back into contention.

Watch the highlights:

The result followed a South African selection overhaul, with 13 changes from the side that beat New Zealand in Baltimore. Despite that rotation, the Springboks retained considerable experience: their starting second-row pairing had 240 international appearances between them. Australia nevertheless built a 24-17 half-time advantage and extended it after the interval, leaving South Africa needing to recover from a 42-17 deficit.

Both teams kicked early penalties before Johan Grobbelaar scored the opening try from a South African maul. Len Ikitau answered from close range, then added a second after the visitors failed to deal with a high kick. Edwill van der Merwe restored South Africa's lead with a finish out wide, but Australia struck again before half-time. A 14-phase attack ended with Ben Donaldson crossing in the corner.

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus used all eight replacements early in the second half with his team 10 points behind. The changes did not immediately halt Australia's momentum. Captain Harry Wilson had a try disallowed because his foot was in touch, then scored shortly afterwards near the posts. Max Jorgensen subsequently capitalised on a South African handling error and ran the length of the field for Australia's fifth try.

Wilson's yellow card began a damaging sequence for the hosts. South Africa were awarded a penalty try, with Ryan Lonergan also sent to the sin-bin. Van der Merwe then failed to ground a crossfield kick, but the visitors kept closing the gap. Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i became Australia's third yellow-card recipient before replacement scrum-half Morne van den Berg scored to reduce the deficit to 11 points.

Australia briefly appeared to have escaped when Tom Wright intercepted and ran over the line. His effort was ruled out, however, and Hunter Paisami received the fourth yellow card for a dangerous tackle earlier in the move. Ox Nche scored as South Africa exploited their numerical advantage, cutting the margin to four points. The visitors could not complete the recovery before time expired.