Turning back the clock: Who featured in last Bok win in Oz in 2013?

It’s been nine years and seven matches since the Springboks last beat the Wallabies in Australia.

Their last triumph was at Lang Park in Brisbane in 2013, when Jean de Villiers’ team won 38-12 on 7 September.

Since then, the Boks have lost 24-23 (Perth, 2014), 24-20 (Brisbane, 2015), 23-17 (Brisbane, 2016), drawn 23-23 (Perth, 2017), lost 23-18 (Brisbane, 2018), lost 28-26 (Gold Coast, 2021) and lost 30-17 (Brisbane, 2021).

And this weekend, the Boks are in Adelaide to try rectify a poor record in Australia: since South Africa’s readmission to international sport in 1992, the Boks and Wallabies have met 32 times in Australia with the hosts winning on 25 occasions. The Boks have won just five times, with two draws.

This will be the first time the Wallabies host the Boks in Adelaide.

So, what went down back in 2013?

Interestingly, it was a hiding dished out by the Boks, who went into the match having not won in Brisbane in their seven previous visits to the city.

But, a combination of powerful forwards play and slick running by the backs was too much for the Wallabiess, whose 12 points came via four penalties by Christian Leali’ifano.

The Boks scored four tries through Coenie Oosthuizen, De Villiers, Zane Kirchner, and Willie le Roux. Morne Steyn was on song with the boot, converting three tries and slotting four penalties.

According to a report of the match on ESPN, Duane Vermeulen was a ‘colossus’ at No 8 while De Villiers’ showing in the midfield also received praise. Referee George Clancy came in for plenty of stick for some of his decisions …. It seems not much has changed in nine years.

The win by the Boks was their ninth on the trot under the guidance of Heyneke Meyer, while the Wallabies, who’d suffered their fourth straight defeat, were at that stage looking for their first win under the coaching of Ewen McKenzie.

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Vermeulen will again pack down at eighthman for the Boks on Saturday, with the only other Boks who were involved in 2013 being Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi (who played off the bench). Le Roux has been left out of the matchday squad for this weekend’s match.

The backline in 2013 was: Kirchner, Le Roux, JJ Engelbrecht, De Villiers, Bryan Habana, Steyn and Ruan Pienaar.

The forwards were: Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Flip van der Merwe, Etzebeth, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira.

The replacements were: Adriaan Strauss, Gurthro Steenkamp, Oosthuizen, Juandre Kruger, Kolisi, Jano Vermaak, Pat Lambie and Jan Serfontein.

And it’s not as if it was a bad Wallabies team that the Boks thumped: Israel Folau, James O’Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Christian Leali’ifano, Nick Cummins, Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Ben Mowen, Michael Hooper, Scott Fardy, Kane Douglas, Rob Simmons, Sekopu Kepu, Stephen Moore, James Slipper. Bench: Saia Fainga’a, Scott Sio, Ben Alexander, Ben McCalman, Liam Gill, Nic White, Matt To’omua, Jesse Mogg.