Hat-trick hero Arendse gets Boks' 2023 RWC journey off to thunderous start with Wallaby whacking

At Loftus Versfeld, Tshwane

Kurt-Lee Arendse's hat-trick headlined a thunderous return to Afro-Australian rugby relations in the republic as the Springboks crushed Australia 43-12 at a packed Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.

The last time 416 Kirkness Street hosted a Springbok/Wallaby Test was in 2016 during the sterility of the Allister Coetzee era where they won 18-10, but didn't score a try.

There was nothing flat about their showing this time as Jacques Nienaber's side overcame a slow start to run roughshod over the visiting Wallaby side that still needs to get used to their new coach Eddie Jones.

If there's a slight concern, it may have been that the Boks over-showed their new attacking hand as they played an enterprising brand of rugby that mixed judicious kicking with phase play and broken play excellence.

The key part of the Boks' display was that their fringe players were immense and left Nienaber and SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus with quite the selection headache.

The likes of Andre Esterhuizen, Cobus Reinach, Marco van Staden, Marvin Orie, and Jean Kleyn were simply superb.

Old-stagers like Willie le Roux, Duane Vermeulen, and Pieter-Steph du Toit were assured while Manie Libbok fitted in like a glove in his first start at flyhalf.

A sterner and more accurate Test awaits at the Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland where the Boks will face the All Blacks, but with 12 players already in New Zealand, the Boks are ready for that challenge.

Australia's seventh-minute try scored by Koroibete came off a line-out ball Australia lost.

Until that time, the Wallabies had all the throw-ins, where hooker David Porecki found his jumper.

The Boks didn't collect Kleyn's first line out steal and from that turnover, the