Title aspirants and holders Australia took a step closer to the final, scoring a fluent 8-3 victory over bottom-placed South Africa in their penultimate league game in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

The Olympic champions, who led 5-1 at the break, scored through Jamie Dwyer (2) and El Matheson, Robert Hammond, Travis Brooks, Michael McCann, Grant Schubert and Brent Livermore.

The South African goal scorers were Emile Smith, John McInroy and Ricky Gay.

The Aussies, unbeaten in the competition, but have drawn against South Korea and Pakistan, played with a game plan, focusing on scoring as many goals as possible just in case of being stuck on an equal number of points with some other team after the first stage.

Their swift attack moved clinically on either flank and the constant switching of positions had the South Africans caught on the wrong foot.

Australia have eleven points from five outings and will play India in their last league match on Friday.