Australia's department of youth stepped up grandly to upset the world champion Springboks and finally snap a six-game Tri-Nations losing streak on Saturday night.

The Wallabies' love affair with Suncorp Stadium continued with a 21-6 victory over South Africa which kept New Zealand alive in the tournament with two matches remaining.

The rebuilding Australians scored two tries to nil to help coach Robbie Deans celebrate his 50th birthday in style.

The Wallabies haven't lost to South Africa in Brisbane since 1971.

Creative halfback Will Genia and flanker David Pocock both stood tall in their first run-on Tri-Nations starts while prop Benn Robinson, who led a brilliant scrummaging display, was a deserved man of the match.

"The boys are ecstatic," skipper George Smith said after finally opening their Tri-Nations account.

"The guys are young but they are experienced. The way they sustained pressure throughout the match, I'm really proud of them."

After holding a tense 9-6 lead for 23 minutes of the second half, centre Adam Ashley-Cooper broke the game open when he steamed onto a beautiful cut-out pass from Berrick Barnes to score.

In his return from injury, Barnes' usually fine passing game was off for much of the match before he switched with Matt Giteau to stand at five-eighth and put Ashley-Cooper away untouched for a 16-6 lead.

Teenage fullback James O'Connor put the icing on the cake by swooping on a Springbok error and scooting 25m for the sealer with three minutes left.

Deans and his Wallabies had lamented time and again they were only inches away after four straight losses this year - their worst streak since 2005.

Inches from victory. Inches from building a winning culture.

For a long time on Saturday night it seemed they may again be inches away after three times being denied tries by the television match official by the barest of margins.

In a first half of near misses for both sides, Bryan Habana twice saved almost certain Australian tries with brilliant last-ditch cover tackles on Lachie Turner and Giteau.

But Australia were a touch fortunate to have the lead as they entered the sheds with referee Wayne Barnes rightly disallowing a try to Springbok flanker Heinrich Brussow due to a marginally forward pass by Fourie du Preez.

Giteau's 35th minute close-range field goal gave the Wallabies a 9-3 lead late in the half but the world champions edged back to within three when super-boot Morne Steyn slotted a 40m penalty goal from the sideline.

Unlike their 32-25 defeat in Perth, the Wallabies were more energetic and accurate throughout.

They still suffered from some weak midfield defence with springbok centres Jean de Villiers and Jacque Fourie twice carving through the middle of Australia's 10-12 channel.

Only desperate scrambling defence near the line three times prevented Fourie from scoring.

The Wallabies' best chance came when rookie halfback Genia put Turner on a scoot down the right touch line only for Habana to swoop and crunch him in the corner.

Australia finished the game with hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau and Turner on the sidelines with worrying rib injuries and in doubt for their September 19 clash with the All Blacks in Wellington.

But Deans was lavish in his praise of his young team who finished well over the top of the more mature South Africans.

"They kept their heads up and they played for the full 80 minutes and it was evident at the end that the confidence was starting to kick in, and the spirit was great," he said.

"We took them (South Africa) outside their comfort zone which we haven't been able to do previously."

The Springboks missed a staggering 33 tackles as the Wallabies dangerously ran the ball in the humid conditions.

Deans fell short of calling the victory a turning point, but felt that may be answered in Wellington.

"It's better than the alternative without a doubt, it will be a fillip for this group and that was evident in the last 10 minutes."

Deans also praised the improvement of the scrum to finally exorcise any demons that may have still been lingering from the bad old days when Australia's forwards were bullied in the set piece.

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