Resurgent Wallabies hammer world champion Springboks in Adelaide

Embarrassed and dismantled in their record defeat by Argentina in San Juan, the Wallabies had had a fortnight to stew in their own juices. There had been, said coach Dave Rennie, a “pretty brutal review, a fair bit of honesty and an excellent reaction.”

That “reaction” ran onto Adelaide Oval and delivered a 25-17 hammering of the reigning world champions South Africa. Although the scoreline hints at a tight Test, Australia were ascendent all day – fantastic in attack and brave in defence as they rewarded the faithful and got their Rugby Championship campaign back on track.

All year the Wallabies had missed the start and found themselves badly in arrears and chasing the scoreboard with ever-increasing levels of desperation thereafter. Rennie had swung the axe and staunched this wound, making six changes and seven positional switches. It worked from the get-go. In Adelaide, against a monster pack with an All Blacks scalp pinned to their shorts, Australia exploded out of the gates.

The Wallaby way is running rugby played at high speed. It’s a high-risk, high-reward style that pleases fans when it works, and leaves them hair-tearing when it doesn’t. In Adelaide, for once, the precision of their play matched the pace of it. The proof came in the second minute as fast ball from Nic White sent Fraser McReight crashing over.

McReight, a Sunshine Coast surfie, has modelled his game on absent captain Michael Hooper. The 23-year-old made his debut when his leader stood tall to step down with mental health struggles in Argentina last month. Now, after three tests filling Hooper’s No 7 jersey, McReight is a star. Resembling a savage, sawn-off Santa in his red and white headgear, the flanker’s crazy-brave charges, aggressive defence