Steyn stars for Boks

Two late drop-goals by Francois Steyn handed South Africa a tense 22-19 Tri-Nations victory against Australia on Saturday.

Steyn slotted over both of his three-pointers in the last 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute, the first a monstrous 45-metre kick to level the scores.

And just two minutes from time, the 20-year-old Sharks utility back slotted the easiest of goals from 20 metres out, sending the 48,000 Newlands crowd into a frenzy as their team sealed what at times appeared an unlikely victory.

The Springboks started brightly and strung together a number of attacking phases in the opening 10 minutes, but only had a Percy Montgomery penalty to show for their efforts.

That score was cancelled out by the boot of Stirling Mortlock, but the Boks soon went over for the first try of the game.

A wave of attacks drew the opening, the hosts ultimately benefiting when Gurthro Steenkamp lost the ball in a tackle and Jaque Fourie charged through the gap to score in the corner. Montgomery converted to put the Boks 10-3 up.

Mortlock kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit before a controversial try gave Australia the lead.

Referee Wayne Barnes incensed the hosts by allowing Matt Giteau's touchdown after Stephen Larkham had apparently obstructed Guy Shepherdson.

Mortlock added another penalty to ease the Wallabies into a 16-10 lead at the break, and put over another shortly after the restart to stretch the lead to nine points.

Montgomery nailed two penalties but South Africa struggled to break down Australia's well-organised defence, which resulted in Boks coach Jake White introducing matchwinner Steyn.