South Africa winger Gio Aplon, playing only his second international, ran 90 meters (yards) for the second of his two tries. The Western Province player won the man of the match award.

Blue Bulls' Morne Steyn added three conversions and three penalties for 15 points, watched by 46,885 fans at the Newlands Stadium. Steyn had already kicked a season-record 263 points for the Bulls in Super 14 competition.

"The intent was there from the boys from the beginning," South Africa captain John Smit said.

Apart from a fine try from winger Aurelien Rougerie, Six Nations champion France looked a demoralized team only minutes into the match. France got a belated try when the match was already decided through replacement winger Marc Andreu.

Determined to start strongly, the Springboks began a flowing move in the 2nd minute from their own defense and rode tackle after tackle to cut through the French, allowing Pierre Spies to score freely under the posts.

Six minutes later, poor French defending let Aplon through to score a second try. Flyhalf Morne Steyn kicked both conversions.

South Africa flirted with France's touchline again moments later but had to settle for a penalty kick when the ball came loose. The Springboks won a penalty and after 11 minutes it was 17-0.

"They exploited the slightest error we made," France captain Thierry Dusautoir said.

After Steyn kicked another penalty for a 20-0 lead, France finally showed why it is Six Nations champion. It produced a lightning left to right series of passes that produced an extra man on the right and allowed Rougerie to go through.

The Springboks' momentum was unstoppable, though, and two minutes later prop Guthro Steenkamp went down the left for another try.

South Africa went into halftime with a 25-10 lead.
 

Australia overcame England's absolute scrum superiority to win their rugby union Test 27-17 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth on Saturday.

Although missing several key players to injury, notably star flyhalf Matt Giteau, the Wallabies were able to weather a determined England comeback in the second-half, the visitors earning the wrath of coach Martin Johnson for their disappointing performance.

The Wallabies led 14-0 at the break and looked by far the better side for much of the first half, but two penalty tries twice narrowed the gap to four points as England exploited their scrum dominance in the second period.

However, the Wallabies held on, flyhalf Quade Cooper capping a fine game that included two tries by sealing the result with a penalty in the 79th minute.

The Australian front row of Saia Faingaa, Salesu Ma'Afu and debutant Ben Daley started the game with a combined total of two Test caps to England's 80 for Tim Payne, Steve Thompson and Dan Cole, and it showed.

The Wallabies had no answer to their English counterparts, with the home side conceding a host of scrum penalties.

However, it did little to hold the home side back and Wallabies coach Robbie Dean said the trio performed to his expectations.
 

In New Plymouth,  New Zealand, All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter became the fourth player to surpass 1,000 points in tests as New Zealand beat 14-man Ireland 66-28 in a one-off rugby test on Saturday.

Carter landed a penalty and seven conversions for 17 points in a perfect kicking performance as New Zealand preserved an unbeaten record against Ireland, which now stretches to 23 tests over 105 years.

Ireland No. 8 Jamie Heaslip was sent off in the 15th minute by English referee Wayne Barnes for deliberately kneeing a New Zealand player in the head, leaving his team a man short for more than three-quarters of the match.

The Irish were further reduced to 13 men between the 24th and 34th minute when flyhalf Ronan O'Gara was sin-binned for tackling an opponent without the ball.

Scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan, center Conrad Smith and replacement lock Sam Whitelock all scored two tries for New Zealand.

Whitelock's scores came on his debut, matching the feat of his brother George who scored a try on his All Blacks debut against Italy last year.

Cowan touched down twice within three minutes while Ireland was reduced to 13 men and prop Ben Franks, who also scored in that period, was one of three players _ along with Whitelock and Ireland's Dan Tuohy _ to score a try on their test debuts.

No. 8 Kieran Read scored his first try in test matches for New Zealand and prop Neemia Tialata his second.

Replacement Tuohy, captain Brian O'Driscoll, winger Tommy Bowe and center Gordon D'Arcy scored tries for Ireland who added three tries and 21 second-half points after trailing 38-7 at halftime.

Carter began the match with 994 points in tests and passed 1,000 points after a sixth-minute penalty and two conversions.

He joined England's Jonny Wilkinson, Wales' Neil Jenkins and Argentina's Diego Dominguez as the only players to surpass the 1,000-points milestone.