A crowd of more than 50000 watched as Kurt-Lee Arendse bagged a hattrick while the Springboks ran riot against Australia to win their opening fixture of the Rugby Championship 43-12.

It was far from a perfect performance from South Africa, but it was nevertheless full of promise as Duane Vermeulen’s men played their first Test of the year.

If there were plenty of positives for South Africa there would be a lot of concerns for Wallaby coach Eddie Jones, whose side looked short of ideas. Two yellow cards for the visitors didn’t make their quest any easier, but the reality was they were never in it.

Australia opened the scoring against the run of play when Marika Koroibete crashed over. But thereafter it was all the Boks, who bagged four tries (three to Arendse and one to Pieter-Steph du Toit), two penalty tries and three conversions and a penalty for Manie Libbock.

Australia conceded 43 unanswered points before finally troubling the scoreboard at the death when Carter Gordon dotted down.

For the Boks, there were several players who produced standout performances with Andre Esterhuizen and Bongi Mbonambi both looking impressive.

Speaking after the game Springbok skipper Vermeulen said: “I am really proud of the boys. It was a fantastic performance in front of a fantastic crowd.

“We had our plans coming into the game. We didn’t know what to expect from Australia, but we adapted well and played to our strengths. I am very happy with the result

“We can still improve. But we are very happy with the result,” he said.