Back to reality for the Wallabies: World Cup-champion South Africa overwhelms Australia 33-7

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South Africa’s Ben-Jason Dixon, center, waves after they defeated Australia in their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s Pieter-Steph du Toit, right, is tackled by Australia’s Len Ikiau during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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Australia’s Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, second right, is tackled by South Africa’s Ox Nche as teammate Pieter-Steph du Toit, third left, looks to assist during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s Pieter-Steph du Toit , top, jumps for a line out ball against Australia during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s Elrigh Louw , third right, is tackled by Australia’s Harry Wilson during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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Australia’s Tom Wright, left, and South Africa’s Cobus Reinach jump for the ball during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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Australia’s Tom Wright, second left, and South Africa’s Cobus Reinach, center, jump for the ball during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s head coach Rassie Erasmus watches his team warm up just before the start of their rugby union test match against Australia in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s Kurt-Lee Arendse, center, fends off Australia’s Tom Wright, left, and Jake Gordon during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s Kurt-Lee Arendse, right, runs past Australia’s Jake Gordon during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s Jesse Kriel, left, unloads the ball as he is tackled by Australia’s Harry Wilson and Andrew Kellaway, right, during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s Jesse Kriel, right, is tackled by Australia’s Harry Wilson during their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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Australia’s Harry Wilson rubs his head after his team lost to South Africa in their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

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South Africa’s players celebrate their win over Australia following their rugby union test match in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — World Cup-champion South Africa gave the previously unbeaten Wallabies a harsh reality check on Saturday, leading 14-0 early and beating Australia 33-7 in the opening Rugby Championship match for both teams.

South Africa led 7-0 in the 10th minute when captain Siya Kolisi crashed over the try line from a rolling maul to give the visitors the lead before a capacity crowd of more than 50,000 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

“We said as a group this is a big game for us to win, I am proud of the boys,” Kolisi said. “We stuck to what we planned in the week, we are a learning team.”

Despite sustained strong defensive play by the Wallabies, South Africa went ahead 14-0 when Pieter-Steph du Toit found an opening to surge through for the second try.

Another try gave the Springboks a 21-0 lead at halftime, and the home side never recovered — despite Wallabies assistant coach Laurie Fisher’s optimistic comments at halftime.

“That’s a lot of heavy artillery coming at you,” Fisher said. “So we’ve just got to dust ourselves off, get out in the second half and just win it moment by moment.”

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That never happened. The Springboks went ahead 28-0 with 13 minutes left after their fourth try of the night, then added a fifth on the ensuing kickoff. The Wallabies finally got on the scoreboard with four minutes remaining.

It was the Springboks first win over Australia in Brisbane since 2013. The Wallabies will have a chance to recover from the big loss when they play South Africa again next Saturday in Perth, Western Australia, in the second match of the Rugby Championship for both teams.

“They’re an incredibly powerful side, an experienced side and, they won that physical battle today their break down was really strong and they dominated possession and territory in that first half, which saps the strength out of the boys a little bit,” Australia coach Joe Schmidt said.

“It would have been great to get a little bit more out of the game, but we’ve got a benchmark and it wasn’t a massive shock to us as to where the Springboks would be and it’s somewhere that we’re gonna have to build towards.”

The Springboks won the first match of their season against Ireland 27-20 before losing the second 25-24. They then had a 64-21 win over Portugal at the end of July.

Australia had two wins over Wales and one over Georgia to start its new season. The Wallabies are trying to recover from their worst-ever performance at a World Cup last year in France, where they failed to advance for the first time from group play.

“You have to credit South Africa, they showed up tonight and put us under pressure. We did not have the ball for most of the first half,” Australia captain Allan Ala’alatoa said.

“It is a tough learning for our group but we have to regather and go again in Perth next week.”

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby