Supersubs saved me, admits White

From Dave James in Lens, France
September 23, 2007

SOUTH Africa coach Jake White breathed a huge sigh of relief after his team's 30-25 Rugby World Cup Pool A win over Tonga, admitting that his big-name replacements saved his skin.

The 1995 champion trailed 10-7 early in the second half when Tonga prop Kisi Pulu was driven over, compounding an error-hit display by the Springboks that had seeen them miss three first-half penalties as well as twice spilling the ball on the try line.

But White, who had made 11 changes from the side that beat England 36-0 last week, sent 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 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 is ensured of winning Pool A and will probably face Wales in Marseille on October 7 for a semi-final 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 ran in 20 unanswered points before Tonga scored twice in the final 10 minutes to force the Springboks to endure a tense finish.

White decided to field his B team despite the players 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," he said.

"Tonga beat Samoa last week but the plan was always to give some guys an opporunity otherwise we could have had the same guys possibly playing seven weekends in a row.

"We had opportunites 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 learmed from that.

"I'm not going to have them shot at dawn."

Agence France-Presse