Mighty South Africa were given the fright of their lives on Saturday before they made sure of their World Cup quarterfinals place with an error-strewn 30-25 win over Tonga.
Springbok coach Jake White almost paid an embarrassing price for making 11 changes to the side who beat England 36-0 and putting his faith in his B team, who had not played a competitive match for a month.
But having seen his second-string side slip 10-7 behind early in the second half, he made sweeping changes bringing on his entire bench — including full-back Percy Montgomery, who won a record-breaking 90th cap.
The 1995 champions also scored four tries to make sure of a bonus point that guaranteed top spot in pool B and a quarterfinal tie, probably against Wales, in Marseille on October 7.
Tonga nipped ahead after nine minutes when Pierre Hola kicked a penalty awarded for offside before South Africa flyhalf Andre Pretorius squandered two penalties of his own.
But the Springboks grabbed the first try of the match in the 18th minute when Tonga were caught napping after being penalised for not staying on their feet. Full back Ruan Pienaar took a quick tap and darted over with Pretorius kicking the extras to make the score 7-3.
Tonga were then denied a try when prop Soane Tonga’uiha turned up on the left wing to dive over, but his effort was ruled out by English referee Wayne Barnes for a forward pass.
Pretorius then missed his third penalty before the Springboks’ untidy opening was embarrassingly illustrated. First, Wynand Olivier threw a wayward pass to Ashwin Willemse with the winger in sight of the line. Then, in their next attack, Willemse allowed the ball to slip from his grasp with a try there for the taking.
Hola squandered a chance to cut the deficit to 7-6 with a wayward penalty just before the interval.
But there was still time for another Springboks error when prop CJ van der Linde lost the ball courtesy of a crunching tackle from Tonga skipper Nili Latu as he charged for the line.
Tonga dramatically stormed into the lead four minutes after the interval when prop Kisi Pulu was driven over and Hola added the extra points to make the score 10-7.
White reacted immediately by making five changes, bringing on regular skipper Jon Smit, Brendan Botha, Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana and Francois Steyn.
But Pretorius’s miserable afternoon continued when he missed his fourth penalty before flanker Danie Rossouw was stretchered off with his neck in a brace. Steyn took over kicking duties and he brought South Africa level at 10-10.
Juan Smith, who had replaced Rossouw, then eased the Springboks’ nerves with his side’s second try in the 59th minute with Montgomery, who had come on for the hapless Pretorius and passed Joost van der Westhuizen’s mark of 89 caps, kicking the conversion for 17-10.
Stand-in skipper Bobby Skinstad scored for 22-10 and Pienaar then finished off a sweeping move to make it 27-10.
South Africa were down to 13 men at one stage with both Steyn and Habana sin-binned, while Tonga winger Joseph Vaka was also yellow-carded.
In a breath-taking second half, centre Sukanaivalu Hufanga reduced the deficit with a try in the corner before the islanders stunned South Africa with another try from lock Vilamai Vaki, who won a sprint to the line in a move that started deep in their own territory from a Hola crossfield kick.
Hola kicked the conversion to make the score 27-22.
Montgomery then calmed his team’s nerves with a penalty for Tonga collapsing the maul to edge his side to 30-22 before Hola grabbed another penalty for his side, who left the field to a standing ovation. — Sapa-AFP