Rugby news: Australia v South Africa first Test result, Wallabies latest
Marika Koroibete ran 40 metres to make a tackle that stunned South Africa and inspired a Wallabies upset. He reveals the powerful motivation behind playing for his country.
Wallabies
Don't miss out on the headlines from Wallabies. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Marika Koroibete feared he’d never wear the Wallabies jersey again, and has revealed his primary motivation is to repay Australia back for taking he and his family in from Fiji.
The Wallabies flyer produced a spectacular individual display to lead his team to a 25-17 victory over world champions South Africa on Saturday, and as one of the three ‘Giteau Law’ overseas picks in the squad, he has been reinvigorated since heading to Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights last year.
“It’s just an honour, being overseas I thought my Wallabies (opportunity) is never going to come again,” Koroibete said.
“I just get a privilege to (be) one of those three players to get back to Australia (under) the Giteau Law, managed to take those opportunities.
“There was a lot of noise going around, I wanted to prove everyone wrong.”
Watch the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Every Game Live & exclusive to beIN SPORTS on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The Wallabies can select three overseas-based players in their squad for each series, and opted for Koroibete, Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi. Both Cooper and Kerevi will be sidelined with injury for the remainder of the year, but Koroibete is all but certain to be one of the first picked for next year’s World Cup if he remains fit.
The 30-year-old former NRL star is determined to make every game count.
“It’s an opportunity, as a kid who grew up in Fiji, coming over to Australia, this country gave a lot to me and my family,” Koroibete said.
“Just to don that jersey, my kids are brought up in Australia playing rugby, they want to don that jersey. Me, growing up in Fiji, come here and just to give back to the country, and what they’ve done for me and my family.
“I just don’t want to let anyone down, my teammates, my country, my coaching staff, the boys.”
Koroibete stole the show with his try-saving tackle on rival winger Makazole Mapimpi, racing 40 metres across the field with right winger Tom Wright in the sin bin, smashing the Springbok so hard he flipped over the touchline.
“I just put my head there and hoped for the best,” Koroibete said.
“The tackle had to be made, we had a man in the bin I had to cover that side.
“We spoke this week about effort, on the back of Argentina we had to work for each other.”
Dave Rennie has coached many players, but he’s never seen a winger like Koroibete.
The Wallabies flyer produced yet another masterful display, perhaps his best yet in a gold jersey, to lead Australia to victory against the Springboks.
“He’s incredible, and what you see on Saturdays is what you see every day in training,” Rennie said.
“He is just full on. If we kick a ball, he’s full pace chasing everything.
“He’s concrete when he hits. His work ethic is phenomenal, I haven’t seen another winger like it.
“He’s not a big man, but powerful and he’s all over the park. You look at his numbers and they’re outrageous.
“He’s a bit of a fan of the old pick-and-go on the other side of the field at times, every now and then it puts us under a bit of heat, but he’s everywhere.
“That tackle was at a time we were missing a winger, he’s come from the other side of the field.
Koroibete’s captain James Slipper said the play lifted the entire squad.
“He’s a big part of our team, he’s a real character and the boys really love playing with him, he’s probably the hardest trainer I’ve ever seen,” Slipper said.
“Some of the stuff he does on the footy field is just phenomenal.
“One thing I know about Marika is that he’s going to put his body on the line not only for his teammates but his country and for the jersey.
“He is a player we all enjoy having in the squad, he picks us up for sure.”
Report: Brutal review which sparked Wallabies stunner
From rocks to diamonds, the Wallabies annihilated South Africa to keep their incredible home winning streak going against the world champions following a “brutal” team review.
Having been hammered by a record margin by Argentina in their previous outing, Wallabies coach Dave Rennie held no-holds-barred meetings with his players, and they sprung a 25-17 upset win at Adelaide Oval.
“We had an honest and brutal type of review, and we got the response we expected,” Rennie said.
“It’s a proud group and we know we’re a lot better than that performance, when we were in Argentina we weren’t clinical enough, we left a lot of tries out on the park and didn’t deal with the ball in the air, whereas today we were clinical and I thought we defused that aerial threat really well.”
Captain James Slipper echoed that.
“It came off the back of a really honest review, it was a tough tour in Argentina, there was a lot going on and at the end of the day we didn’t play our best rugby, so naturally the boys wanted to respond well,” Slipper said.
“It was pure honesty, it was a performance we weren’t proud of and that’s what makes me so proud of the boys today, how we responded to that.”
The Springboks haven’t won on these shores since 2013, and yet it was the Wallabies playing with passion and motivation.
The victory was sparked by Marika Koroibete, who produced a highlight reel display that thrilled the 36,336 spectators at the famous Adelaide cricket ground.
The Springboks spoke all week about ending their winless streak here, to no avail.
They were physically outgunned and tactically outmaneuvered by a Wallabies team few thought capable of such a turnaround two weeks after losing 48-17 to Argentina.
The victory eases pressure on coach Dave Rennie, who immediately turned his focus to next week’s rematch in Sydney.
“We’re rapt with the result, we’re well aware of the challenge of next week and backing up, which we haven’t done this year,” Rennie said.
“We talked about respect being earned daily, we’ve got to back this up.
“What we know is the Africans are a hell of a side and they’re going to be tougher next week, so we’re going to have to take our game to another level.
“If we genuinely want people to get behind us, we’ve got to front every week.”
Koroibete was a star in attack, defence and kick-chase.
He put on the shot of the year so far, smashing opposition winger Makazole Mapimpi as he looked set to score late in the first half.
Koroibete, who earlier had put a crunching tackle on Duane Vermeulen, raced across the field and whacked Mapimpi, who flipped over the touchline in goal.
Koroibete then scored an outstanding try in the second half by wrong-footing Handre Pollard, leaving the playmaker on the ground clutching at thin air as he stopped and skipped on the outside.
The 47th minute try put Australia 15-3 in front, and 10 minutes later they were in again from a clever set move.
James Slipper threw an inside pass to Noah Lolesio, who sliced clean through the defence, drew the chasing defence and gave a one-handed flick to Fraser McReight who scored his second try.
A 65th minute penalty by Lolesio put Australia 25-3 in front.
Springboks backrower Kwagga Smith scored his team’s first try with five minutes remaining, and his second on the fulltime siren to bring the scores in.
But Australia were dominant, and will head into their second showdown against the Boks next weekend in Sydney confident they can extend their home streak to next year.
It wasn’t without fault; the Wallabies lost five lineouts and conceded a couple of scrum penalties.
But their resilient defence was the hallmark of a courageous performance, and they nailed their chances in attack.
The Wallabies immediately regained the opening kickoff and proceeded to attack.
Hooker Folau Fainga’a broke through the line, and smart short passing saw McReight squeeze between Damian Willemse and Damien de Allende for a try in just the second minute.
Lolesio kicked the conversion and then a penalty goal five minutes later to put Australia 10-0 ahead in the seventh minute.
After two surprise penalty kick misses, Pollard finally got South Africa on the board in the 24th minute with three points from in front of the posts.
Winger Tom Wright was sin-binned in the 30th minute for being offside after Vermeulen took a quick tap close to Australia’s line.
But the Boks couldn’t capitalise, and then lost a man of their own to the bin when Faf de Klerk was ridiculously yellow carded just before the break for a high shot on rival halfback Nic White - the Wallaby milking it for all its worth with his delayed reaction.
De Klerk had pawed at White as the No. 9 took the ball from the back of the scrum, and White then screamed out and dropped to his knees before he was dragged into the in-goal.
After a review, referee Paul Williams binned de Klerk, outraging South African fans and embarrassing Australians.
But the embarrassment quickly turned to pride as Australia turned in one of their finest displays at a ground they had not played in for 18 years.
The Wallabies’ chances of winning the Rugby Championship remain alive.
More Coverage
Originally published as Rugby news: Australia v South Africa first Test result, Wallabies latest