Willie le Roux made the greater all-round contribution in the Test match in Perth on Saturday, writes JON CARDINELLI.

The way the contest began, you would have expected Israel Folau to receive all the plaudits. The Wallabies fullback won the first kick-off for his side, and then rounded off an impressive attacking buildup just seconds later.

But these gamebreaking plays were too few and far between. While safe under the high ball, Folau's weak kicking game was exposed in this fixture.

The Boks, Le Roux chief among them, sought to test Folau with a series of kicks behind the Wallabies defensive line. While Folau got back to cover, he battled to gain sufficient distance on the ensuing clearance kick. This allowed the Boks some great attacking lineouts deep in Wallabies territory.

Le Roux made a few errors when kicking for touch, and on defence. But for the most part, his kicking was accurate and went a long way to winning the territorial battle for the Boks.

He also made the difference on attack. It was a tap-on by Le Roux in the 13th minute that led to a try for Cornal Hendricks in the right-hand corner.

Le Roux managed to get the pass away to Jan Serfontein before being flattened by the defender. The Boks would not have scored if he had not contributed with that deft touch.

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