South Africa put Australia to the sword as Eddie Jones’s second stint in charge of the Wallabies got off to a disastrous start.
Kurt-Lee Arendse’s hat-trick powered the Springboks to a seven-try 43-12 victory in Pretoria as the hosts flexed their strength.
Jacques Nienaber had named a side short of several regular first-choice stars for the Rugby Championship opener, but it mattered not as Australia were blown away.
Showing early attacking ambition and then taking full control with their power game, South Africa produced a statement performance in their first fixture of this World Cup year.
Australia twice had players sent to the sin bin after conceding penalty tries, Dave Porecki shown a yellow card after hauling down a ball before Suliasi Vunivalu’s deliberate knock on denied Arendse a walk-in fourth score.
It leaves Jones with plenty of thinking to do as Australia prepare to host Argentina in Sydney next weekend.
Argentina welcome New Zealand to Mendoza later on Saturday in round one’s other fixture.
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