PERTH: 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 yesterday

Australia's win in their first match of this year's Tri-Nations, left the world champions' Springboks with a 1-2 Tri-Nations record while New Zealand are 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 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 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 their past eight matches against South Africa -- and just one in their past four in Perth, where South Africa enjoy strong expatriate crowd support.

South Africa looked set to extend that good record when they dominated much of the first half.

Steyn kicked a 48-metre 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.



The Springboks play 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. -- AP