Kurtley Beale kicked a last-minute penalty to give Australia a thrilling 41-39 win in its Tri-Nations test against South Africa in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Beale's last-gasp kick gave the Wallabies their first victory at a highveld venue since 1963, and left the home crowd stunned after the Springboks had fought back from 31-6 down to go ahead 39-38 late in the match.
Australia took charge with a clinical display in the first half, when tries from fullback Beale, James O'Connor, Stephen Moore and Rocky Elsom looked certain to give it a long-awaited win at altitude.
South Africa hit back with three tries of its own and a faultless kicking
display from flyhalf Morne Steyn, before Beale's brilliant long-range effort
at the death.
"It's definitely a highlight of my career," Wallabies matchwinner Beale said. "At first I didn't know I was going to take the kick. I was looking for Gits (Matt Giteau). But I just had to block out the crowd, and two seconds after I kicked it I knew it was going over.
"I was just waiting for the touchies (touch judges) to put their flags
up."
The world champion Springboks appeared to have engineered an unlikely comeback when Steyn landed his sixth penalty to give South Africa a one-point advantage with two minutes to play.
But Beale succeeded with his kick, with no time left on the clock, from out wide on the right-hand touchline and South Africa was left to rue its poor start.
"They seemed to cut us to pieces in the first half," South Africa captain John Smit said, "and playing catch-up rugby is tough. I could ramble off a load of excuses but we are below our best and we have a lot of work to do."
Victory ended a 47-year wait for a win at a high-altitude venue in South Africa for the Australian team, and gave the Wallabies a first win in Bloemfontein since 1933.
"It's one of the most memorable victories for me," said Australia skipper Elsom. "The guys kept looking for it and they kept at it."
Australia also reclaimed the Nelson Mandela Plate, and made sure of second place in the Tri-Nations standings with one game to go against New Zealand next weekend.
"It was a great game of rugby and good for the code," Australia coach Robbie Deans said. "In the end we are just glad to have got home.
"I was pretty positive when [Beale] got the ball at the end there. He's a positive guy."
Like last week in Pretoria, Australia was in try-scoring form early in the match.
Center Adam Ashley-Cooper sent O'Connor breaking down the right wing, and he passed inside for Beale to claim his fourth test try in the eighth minute.
Australia pushed the struggling Springboks deep into their own half soon after, and a wayward lineout from the home team allowed Ashley-Cooper to find O'Connor again - and he stepped inside two defenders for Australia's second try in just 14 minutes.
South Africa's shaky defense was opened up again by a rampant Australian backline after 20 minutes, when Giteau's clever pass sent Drew Mitchell hurtling away. Hooker Stephen Moore, in his 50th test for the Wallabies, eventually crashed over after South Africa had temporarily held up the attack.
Australia led a stunned South African team by 24 points to six, and then had its fourth try inside 25 minutes.
South Africa could not keep up with the pace and creativity of Australia's outside runners. The slippery O'Connor broke through Habana's attempted tackle and released captain Elsom, who won a race to the tryline with Francois Hougaard.
Giteau made it 31-6 to Australia with his fourth successful conversion.
Australia had scored 28 points in a brilliant 17-minute spell, while South Africa had just two Steyn penalties to show.
With the 38,000-strong crowd showing its displeasure by booing, South Africa finally replied after the halftime hooter had sounded when lock Victor Matfield kicked ahead, collected and off-loaded for center Jaque Fourie to dive over.
Prop Gurthro Steenkamp crashed over five minutes into the second half to raise home hopes that Australia would again fade at altitude. The Australians wasted 14-0 and 21-7 leads to lose at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.
Steyn then added his third penalty in the 50th minute to cut Australia's lead to eight points at 31-23.
The promise of an unlikely comeback continued as South Africa hammered away at the Australian line throughout the early stages of the second half.
The world champion scored its third try in the 54th, when Jean de Villiers ran onto an inside pass from Hougaard and forced his way over under the crossbar.
Steyn's conversion capped a 24-point reply from the Boks in 14 minutes, to
cut Australia's lead to a single point at 31-30.
Steyn then landed two more penalties to give the South Africans a 36-31 lead.
As the last quarter of the game swung from end to end, and with Australia down to 14 men after a yellow card for replacement hooker Saia Fainga'a, Mitchell broke onto an inside pass from the impressive Giteau to score between the posts. Australia went back in front at 38-36 with the conversion from O'Connor.
Steyn then sent over what the crowd in Bloemfontein thought was the winning kick, before Beale stole victory for the Australians.
"There was definitely a lot of nerves, Beale said, "but we're just glad that the kick went over. It was a gutsy effort from the boys."
Australia 41 (Kurtley Beale, James O'Connor, Stephen Moore, Rocky Elsom, Drew Mitchell tries; Matt Giteau penalty, 4 conversions; O'Connor conversion; Beale penalty) def. South Africa 39 (Jaque Fourie, Gurthro Steenkamp, Jean de Villiers tries; Morne Steyn 6 penalties, 3 conversions). HT: 31-13.
AP