THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — If the Samoans had to go at the Rugby World Cup, they were determined to take some Springboks out with them.
Defending champion South Africa led 13-0 and was showing glimpses of championship-winning form Friday before a counterassault from Samoa, which launched attack after brutal attack before succumbing 13-5.
The South Africans survived the onslaught to advance unbeaten to the quarterfinals and achieved some milestones on the way, including Bryan Habana’s 10th World Cup try and skipper John Smit’s 16th consecutive match at the tournament — even if that lasted only a couple of minutes before he was yellow carded for a professional foul.
It was the kind of bruising, energy-absorbing game that would have delighted South Africa’s potential opponents in the knockout rounds.
Among them could be Tri-Nations champion Australia in the quarterfinals and top-ranked New Zealand in the semis.
The Australians, off-course since an upset loss to Ireland, finish off Pool C with an injury-plagued team featuring 35-year-old backrower Radike Samo starting on the wing against Russia on Saturday.
Two-time finalist France faces a nervy match against Tonga, another heavy-hitting Polynesian team that has a remote chance of progressing to the quarterfinals for the first time and will leave its share of bruises on the Frenchmen.
Saturday will conclude with what shapes as a classic encounter between unbeaten England and Scotland, the oldest rivals in international rugby, at sold-out, 60,000-seat Eden Park. The Scots need to beat England by at least eight points — something they haven’t achieved in 25 years — or they’ll miss the quarterfinals for the first time at a World Cup. England can still be eliminated if it doesn’t win or pick up a bonus point.
England team manager Martin Johnson spent part of Friday fending off questions about the ball tampering fiasco which resulted in two of his coaches being banned from the sidelines for Scotland match.
One of them, David Alred, is the goalkicking coach who works with flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, who has been off target in the tournament.
England imposed the ban on both coaches for switching the match ball before Wilkinson attempted conversions in the big win over Romania last week. That is against the rules in rugby. But the scandal hasn’t bothered the players.
"They’ve just got on with getting ready for the match," Johnson said. The banned coaches "did what they did in the heat and confusion of a test match.
"They should have asked the referee, we should have asked the referee. We didn’t. They asked us to stop. We did."
Johnson thought the sanctions were enough.
"I don’t suspend guys lightly. They’re going to miss the game, which is a big blow for them," he said. "We regret what we did and it was wrong. We’ve taken the action that we’ve taken and we get on with it.
"In the pressure of a World Cup these things can happen."
Samoa fullback Paul Williams had one of those moments in the 69th minute Friday night, when he responded to some baiting from Heinrich Brussow with a slap to the Springboks flanker’s face in clear view of the match officials and just about everyone in the ground-record crowd of 29,734 at North Harbour Stadium. It earned him the first red card of the tournament and all but derailed Samoa’s comeback attempt.
South Africa scored all of its points in the first 27 minutes, with a converted try to Habana diving into the left corner and penalties from Morne Steyn and Frans Steyn.
The Samoans launched an impressive comeback, which only netted a try to big No. 8 George Stowers in the 52nd minute but stunned the Springboks and exposed gaping holes in the defence out wide.
Springboks coach Peter de Villiers was grateful his squad got through almost unscathed.
"You’ll never find a team more physical in rugby. It was a great preparation going forward for us," de Villiers said. "Just glad to come through it.
"Our decision-making was a bit shocking at times but other times it was spot on. We got the result, so I’m very, very happy."
The Samoans had a setback earlier Friday when it was revealed on Twitter that giant winger Alesana Tuilagi had been fined $10,000 by tournament organizers for wearing a mouthguard which contravened rules for ambush marketing.
The seemingly heavy sanction, when England was let off lightly for a clearer breach of the fundamental rules of the game, drew plenty of sympathy from the New Zealand public. A local TV news presenter started a fundraising campaign for public donations to help Samoa pay the fine.
If there was sympathy during the day, there was high praise at night following a courageous match against the world champions which ultimately earned them nothing but respect. Samoa needed either to win or lose by seven points or fewer to get a bonus point to remain in World Cup contention.
And although their bustling runs forced the South Africans to miss 27 of their 152 tackles, the Samoans couldn’t capitalize more than once.
"I wasn’t disappointed," Samoa captain Mahonri Schwalger said. "I’m very proud of what my boys did out there tonight. They did it all for our people, for our country. You’ve got to make sure you take your opportunity when it comes. Obviously we didn’t take all of our opportunities and we got punished for it."