The Springboks all but guaranteed their place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals following their hard-fought 49-18 win over Tonga at the Stade de Marseille on Sunday night.
South Africa got the job done by scoring seven tries and reaching the 40-point margin, which allied them to a bonus point that they desperately needed.
The Boks made things hard for themselves by missing the kick off and allowed Tonga to register the first points three minutes into the game through a penalty by flyhalf William Havili.
Tonga dominated possession to recall the nail-biting affair of the 2007 tournament when the Boks escaped by the skin of their teeth with a 30-25 victory.
The Boks did, however, hit back in the fifth minute from their only visit to the Tongan 22 in the opening quarter, when the ever alert scrumhalf Cobus Reinach took a quick tap at a five-metre penalty and ran in in the corner.
The Boks were now beginning to assert a measure of control and Deon Fourie claimed a second Springbok try at the back of a driven maul as the Tongan pack began to falter.
Handre Pollard converted all three – two from wide out on the right – to give the Boks a 21-3 lead before Tonga were let back into the game.
A penalty for offside as a Tongan attack was broken up by offensive defence on halfway was turned into a lineout five metres out and after half a dozen phases prop Ben Tameifuna flopped over the line from barely a metre.
Winger Makazole Mapimpi was replaced by dynamic Jesse Kriel following a head clash in which Tongan scrumhalf Augustine Pulu, who was lucky to escape a yellow card.
The seventh try finally arrived in the final minute when Kwagga Smith’s all action play was rewarded with a try under the cross bar.
Manie Libbok replaced Pollard and landed his third conversion from three attempts to round off a challenging but ultimately successful night.
SA’s win means that for Scotland and Ireland to go through at the Boks’ expense, the former needs to beat the latter by 21 points while Ireland score four tries in defeat.
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