KEY POINTS:
LENS - South African rugby coach Jake White breathed a huge sigh of relief after his team's 30-25 World Cup win over Tonga today and admitted that his super subs saved his skin.
The 1995 champions were 7-10 down early in the second half when Tongan prop Kisi Pulu was driven over, compounding an error-hit display by the Springboks which had seen them miss three first half penalties as well as twice spilling the ball on the tryline.
But White, who had made 11 changes from the side who beat England 36-0 last week, brought on the heavy artillery of Bryan Habana, skipper John Smit, Brendon Botha, Francois Steyn, Victor Matfield and Juan Smith.
His masterstroke was completed when Percy Montgomery, winning a record 90th cap, took over the goalkicking from the hapless Andre Pretorius, who had missed four penalties.
Montgomery immediately landed a conversion of Juan Smith's try and an ice-cool penalty in the dying minutes which left the heartbroken Tongans needing two scores if they were to achieve a famous win.
"My substitutes saved me and I'm very relieved," said White, whose side have now made sure of winning pool B and will probably face Wales in Marseille on October 7 for a semifinal place.
"Everyone gets tested, that's why it's called a test match. In selection, we were tested to see whether or not those players could play in a World Cup, were they ready, could they fit into the team.
"The important thing was that we passed the test, and we have now on three out of three."
Once the changes were made, South Africa scored 20 unanswered points before Tonga scored twice in the last 10 minutes to force the Springboks to endure a tense finish.
White had already decided to field his B team despite them not having played for a month since they squeezed out an 18-3 win over Irish province Connaught.
"We always knew the third game would be the tough one. Tonga beat Samoa last week but the plan was always to give some guys an opportunity otherwise we could have had the same guys possibly playing seven weekends in a row," White said.
"We had opportunities when we dropped the ball, missed a few kicks at the posts and missed touch. We had the chances to settle the nerves but when Tonga were 7-3 down at the break, they probably thought they were in with a shout.
"The guys didn't play well against Connaught but we are glad we tried that experiment. We have learned from that.
"I'm not going to have them shot at dawn."
Tongan skipper Nili Latu praised his unheralded side, who left the Stade Felix Bollaert to a standing ovation from 40,000 people and also with a bonus point tucked safely away for keeping the losing margin to less then seven points.
"We wanted to put our best team out there and we knew we could put on a big fight," Latu said.
"They had power and speed so we knew that we had to be smart if we were to beat them. We knew that if we got in their faces, they wouldn't like it."
Coach Quddus Fielea said the match had been one of the best in the tournament.
"It was one of the magical moments for us today," he said after seeing his side score three tries.
"It was a fantastic performance from our players and when we saw the kind of team they were putting out we just decided to have a go at them."
Tonga next face England in Paris on Saturday (NZT) with the winners joining South Africa in the quarterfinals.
- AFP
