Tri-Nations game #6
Australia 19 vs South Africa 18
26th August 2000
Kings Park
Durban
Ref: Paul Honnis

Well the World Champ (cough, cough) Wallabies have added the Tri-Nations trophy to their stash, for the first time in the history of the competition. To do it they had to win their away game in South Africa, which was also a first for them.

I didn't actually watch the game live (it was on at 3am NZST), but after I heard the result on the news this morning I had to tune in to the end of the replay on SKY to see the ending for myself.

The game was another thriller, with the lead changing hands twice in the last 3 minutes. Braam Van Straten (who kicked a perfect 6/6 for the day) nailed a 55m penalty with 3 minutes to go to give the South African's a 18-16 lead and it looked like they may hold on to take the match (and hand the Tri-Nations to NZ) but it wasn't to be.

The Aussies attacked back strongly, even looking like they might score a try to take it, but in the end forced a penalty (for hands in the ruck) from the Springbok defence and special agent Mortlock managed to exorcise some demons of Super12 finals-past and slotted the goal on fulltime to give them the game and the trophy.