Give Blood – Play Rugby

Habana double fires Boks into the final

Reuters | Sunday, 14 October 2007 

Bryan Habana equalled Jonah Lomu’s World Cup tryscoring record to help South Africa join holders England in next weekend’s final with a ruthless 37-13 win over Argentina at the Stade de France in Paris this morning.

Habana scored two of his team’s four tries in an awesome display of power and speed from the Springboks that ended Argentina’s fairytale run to the semi-finals and sent South Africa through to their first final since they won the Webb Ellis Cup at home 12 years ago.

Habana showed why he remains the deadliest finisher in the game with two spectacular tries to overtake Australian Drew Mitchell as the tournament’s top tryscorer and match New Zealander Lomu’s record haul of eight from the 1999 tournament.

“We had a pretty distinct plan for the first 40 and I think that went pretty well,” Springboks captain John Smit said in a televised interview.

“We rested on our laurels in the first part of the second half but their try certainly switched us back on and we got back into test rugby and got ourselves back on the front foot.

“We’re pretty happy with how things went today.”

Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez and No 8 Danie Rossouw also helped themselves to tries and fullback Percy Montgomery kicked 17 points while the Pumas managed a consolation try from outside centre Manuel Contepomi.

South Africa delivered a ruthless masterclass in rugby opportunism to seized on a series of Argentine errors to earn a return to the World Cup final they last graced on home soil 12 years ago.

The Springboks had to absorb long spells of Argentina pressure but when the Pumas erred, which they did far too often to have any realistic hope of victory, the favourites punished them in devastating fashion.

“It was a really tough game. South Africa are a really good team,” said Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda. “They were very consistent. We made a lot of errors and we paid a high price.”

Argentina had provided one of the great feelgood stories of a tournament packed with surprises by making the last four but wilted under the enormous pressure applied by the Springboks.

The Pumas were unable to dominate the South African scrum the way they had with other teams and made too many crucial mistakes after being battered by the South African defenders.

They gifted the Springboks a try after just seven minutes when du Preez intercepted a poorly-judged pass from Felipe Contepomi and sprinted 70 metres, then conceded two more tries before halftime off turnovers.

Habana’s instincts for making something out of nothing saw him score a 60-metre try after Schalk Burger stripped Argentine No 8 Gonzalo Longo of the ball and Francois Steyn flung it wide to Habana who chipped the ball over Lucas Borges to score at the other end of the field.

“Bryan is a special player,” South Africa manager Zola Yeye said. “He has a killer instinct that few players have and in a few years’ time his achievements will be in the history books.”

Felipe Contepomi booted two first-half penalties to calm Argentina’s nerves in the biggest match the Pumas have ever been involved in before another blunder on the stroke of halftime handed the Springboks a third try which effectively killed the match as a contest.

Flyhalf Juan Martin Hernandez dropped a sloppy pass from Agustin Pichot which Steyn combined with Jaque Fourie and Burger to put Rossouw over.

Argentina went to the break trailing 24-6 and briefly threatened to make a comeback when Manuel Contepomi was given the benefit of the doubt and awarded a try early in the second half but they faded in the last quarter as the Springboks piled on 13 unanswered points.

Montgomery landed another two penalties to extend his lead as the leading pointscorer in the tournament before Habana intercepted a pass from Hernandez for his second in the final moments, as tempers started to fray and Juan Smith and Felipe Contepomi were both yellow-carded.

South Africa will go into Saturday’s final as overwhelming favourites after thumping England 36-0 in the pool stages, while Argentina play tournament hosts France on Friday in a repeat of the opening game.

South Africa 37: Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana 2, Danie Roussouw tries; Percy Montgomery 4 cons, 3 pens.

Argentina 13: Manuel Contepomi try; Felipe Contepomi 2 pens, con. Ht: 24-6.