Springboks show steel to grind down Australia

World champions South Africa maintained their perfect start to the Rugby Championship when they ground out a 30-12 win over Australia in a scrappy contest at a rain-drenched Perth Stadium on Saturday.

Aphelele Fassi and Marco van Staden both scored tries and Malcolm Marx crossed twice in the second half as a much-changed Springboks side backed up their far more convincing victory over the Wallabies last week.

Australia fared better in the physical contest than they had in Brisbane a week ago but rarely threatened the South Africa try line and had to settle for four penalties from the boot of flyhalf Noah Lolesio.

South Africa will next face the All Blacks in back-to-back matches at home, while Australia travel to Argentina for their next two contests in the southern hemisphere test championship.