The Wallabies search for a win in Pretoria continues as Springboks prevail 43-12.

The Springboks have come away with a 43-12 win over the Wallabies in Pretoria in the opening match of the eToro Rugby Championship.

South Africa winger Kurt-Lee Arendse produced a hat-trick as the home crowd proved too strong in Eddie Jones’ first game in charge since returning.

"There was an opportunity to come here and put in a game we were proud of and to be fair, we just defended the entire second half so you got to give credit to the Springboks," co-captain James Slipper said.

"They put us under pressure and we'll learn a lot from that.

"It's a tough start but we've got a long year ahead of us.  There's plenty to come so we'll keep working hard."

The Wallabies got off to a great start as they exhibited an electric counter attack after a tense opening to the match.

Fast hands from the backline put Marika Koroibete into space as the 2022 John Eales Medallist raced away for the opening try in the eighth minute.

The hosts sparked into life after this in front of a sold out Loftus Versfeld Stadium crowd as Kurt-Lee Arendse dived over to put them in front.

Eddie Jones’ side found themselves trailing by 12 after the hosts produced a nice set play that ended with Arendse diving over for his second.

Reece Hodge’s 66m penalty attempt fell just short of the posts as the Wallabies went into the sheds trailing 17-5.

The hosts picked up where they left off after the break as Arendse completed his hat-trick in the 50th minute, bursting through a couple of defenders to dive over.

They extended their lead four minutes later when they were awarded a penalty try for a collapsing maul, resulting in hooker Dave Porecki being yellow carded.

Wallabies winger Suliasi Vunivalu also found himself sitting in the sin bin for a deliberate knock down.

It gave the South Africans their second Penalty Try before Pieter-Steph du Toit touched down for an easy try to complete the victory.

Debutant Carter Gordon ended the match on a positive note, racing away for his first Test try after starting the move with a grubber to Koroibete.

The Wallabies will travel back to Sydney tomorrow evening where they will turn their attention to Argentina at CommBank Stadium on Saturday night.

South Africa 43 (Tries: Arendse 3, Penalty tries 2, P. Du Toit
Cons: Libbok 3, Penalty try does not need a conversion 2
Pen: Libbok) Australia 12 (Tries: Koroibete, Gordan
Con: Gordan)

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Evan Roos, 21 Deon Fourie, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Damian Willemse

Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Suliasi Vunivalu, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Nic White, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 David Porecki, 1 James Slipper. Replacements: 16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Matt Gibbon, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Richie Arnold, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Samu Kerevi, 23 Carter Gordon

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)