Springbok captain Jean de Villiers said they took an important step towards building depth for the future on Saturday.
The 31-8 victory over the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld saw Heyneke Meyer blood debutants Jaco Taute and Elton Jantjies and introduce Johan Goosen as starting flyhalf in place of Morne Steyn.
Goosen and Taute were solid in a Springbok backline that fired on all cylinders and Jantjies looked comfortable during his five minutes on the pitch.
De Villiers said the Test rookies proved if you are good enough you are old enough.
"Certainly the guys that came in played really well, all the guys involved played really well, but what we are doing now, is building good depth in South Africa, we are managing to get good depth in all positions," De Villiers said.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer had special praise for Cheetahs flyhalf Goosen, who Meyer revealed struggled with an ankle injury that affected his goal-kicking.
"He is an exciting prospect, I would have liked him to score that try there at the beginning, he showed a lot of pace," he said.
"But it will take time, you can't just pick guys and think they're going to do brilliant things, but I thought he was superb.
"Especially after 10 minutes, his ankle really hurt and he said he wanted to see if he can go through, he showed a lot of character and I think he is on the right track."
De Villiers also lauded veteran wing Bryan Habana, whose hat-trick saw him break Breyton Paulse’s record of seven career tries against Australia.
"That's great for him, he's been playing outstanding rugby all year, and he is someone that will always be criticised if he doesn't make that magic that he did again today," he said.
Meyer was content with the performance, which saw South Africa snap a five-match losing streak to the Wallabies, and said that there remains plenty of room for improvement.
"We haven't beaten the Aussies for quite some time and I'm very proud of this great captain and young team," Meyer said.
"But I am still not happy with the performance and I've always said I have really high standards.
"Three tries were centimetres away, but we have to convert that into points." Source: Rugby 365
South Africa changed the emphasis from kicking to running with the ball and scored five tries to crush Australia 31-8 in the Rugby Championship on Sunday morning (AEST).
Veteran right wing Bryan Habana ran in three and there was one each for full-back Zane Kirchner and flanker Francois Louw as the Springboks ended a run of five losses against the Wallabies after leading 14-3 at the break.
The bonus-point triumph before a near-capacity crowd at the 50,000-seat Loftus Versfeld stadium lifted South Africa to 12 points, four behind New Zealand and four ahead of Australia in the southern hemisphere competition.
Scrum half Ruan Pienaar, who took over the placing kicking duties after new fly half Johan Goosen narrowly missed two early shots at goal, completed the scoring with three conversions.
But usually deadly place kicker Goosen shrugged off the disappointments to justify his selection ahead of long-time pivot Morne Steyn and centre Jaco Taute had a satisfactory first start in the green and gold colours.
"It is much nicer to win than to lose and today it all came together this evening," said Springbok centre and skipper Jean de Villiers, referring to a lucky draw in Argentina and losses in Australia and New Zealand.
"The difference in this match was that we executed our game plan much better than in Mendoza, Perth and Dunedin. Gaps opened up and we took full advantage to score those tries.
"But it was not just the backs who deserved credit - the forwards were all outstanding, especially our loose forwards Duane (Vermuelen), Willem (Alberts), Francois (Louw) and Marcell (Coetzee)."
Wallabies lock and skipper Nathan Sharpe admitted the injuries - the catalogue of misery began on six minutes when centre Pat McCabe went off - took its toll on a side that won their last two Championship Tests.
"It is difficult to rejig a side on the run and a good Springbok team fully exploited our problems. We must now bounce back against Argentina and finish the campaign strongly," Sharpe said.
Continuing poor place kicking was the one disappointment as the Springboks got back on the winning trail after a three-match winless run with Pienaar failing to convert four penalty attempts.
South Africa succeeded with only two of nine kicks at goal against New Zealand in Dunedin two weeks ago and chief culprit Steyn was axed by coach Heyneke Meyer after a public and media outcry.
Australia has been plagued by injuries throughout the Championship and it only got worse at Loftus with numerous casualties, including centre Adam Ashley-Cooper, who was taken to hospital with concussion before the break.
The visitors had to play the last eight minutes a man short after making all seven substitutions and were also reduced to 14 men early in the second half when replacement prop James Slipper was sin-binned.
Kurtley Beale, making his first start at fly-half for the Wallabies, kicked a first half penalty and replacement back Mike Harris went over in the corner for a try after the Springboks had built a 23-point advantage.
But razor-sharp Habana had the final say, rounding off another good handling movement in the final minute to raise his career total to 46 tries, against demoralised opponents.
Kirchner and Habana scored first-half tries and Goosen and Kirchner also touched down over the line only to have their efforts disallowed for a double movement and a foot in touch respectively.
South Africa: 31 (B Habana 3, Z Kirchner, F Louw tries; R Pienaar 3/5 cons, 0/2 pens; J Goosen 0/2 cons)
Australia: 8 (M Harris try; K Beale 1/1 pen)
