KEY POINTS:
The emphatic nature of yesterday's win over England means South Africa captain John Smit and his charges face a new challenge - coping with the pressure of being hot favourite to make the final from their side of the draw.
Given the meticulous planning with which he credits
coach Jake White over the past four years, Smit is convinced the Springboks are capable of repelling any challenge, including complacency.
"If any team comes here thinking they can win, then falls victim to complacency, well, I don't think they ever really believed they could win it," the hooker said, somewhat cryptically.
"The biggest mistake would be not paying attention to the next two matches," said Smit of the less-threatening assignments against Tonga and the United States.
Perhaps the most telling point about the victory was that both Smit and Jake White felt the most pleasing aspect was seeing his side defend their tryline in the last 15 minutes as if the match depended on it, even though the game was well and truly won. .
"They were still running back as if their lives depended on it, still getting there when it looked England had numbers on it, scrambling when they got a line break," White said.
The Springbok coach also said it had to be acknowledged that the cards were stacked against their opponents.
"To be fair, you lose your first five-eighths, then you lose your other first five-eighths and you have to play a new first five-eighths. Then Andy Farrell gets a start at inside centre and has to do all the kicking as well; it must be really disruptive for any team," White said.
"First five-eighths is a very important position. Your Larkhams, your Carters, your O'Garas from Ireland. To not know who's going to play there must be very disruptive for any team."
The Springboks' preparation was hardly ideal. Inspirational flanker Schalk Burger gone, initially for four matches but reduced to two on appeal, via the judiciary and Jean de Villiers flown home after a tournament-ending injury.
Add to that a short turnaround after playing Samoa last Monday (NZT) and you had a recipe for an upset. It was apparent from the start that Stade de France, packed with 80,000, wasn't about to give out a shock result two Friday nights in a row.
"It's been a tough week... To get three tries to none is very pleasing," White said.
Meanwhile, veteran England lock Simon Shaw was at a loss to explain where it all went wrong, though he did acknowledge that the Southern Hemisphere teams seem to have got a jump as a result of a particularly intense Tri Nations this year.
"They've come off highly competitive games where we've played warm-up games that were perhaps more about testing combinations and were less crucial in terms of the result," Shaw said. '
'We're not quite there yet. There's certain parts of our game that are just not clicking while there are other parts that are working well. We did incredibly well in the scrum today but it did not manifest itself into creating any points wise.
"It's pretty hard to win if you don't score points."
