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| BJ Botha suffered ligament damage |
| Botha injury dampens Bok celebrations |
| 30 September 2007, 11:05 pm |
| By PA Sport |
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| South Africa coach Jake White fears BJ Botha's World Cup is over, after the prop suffered knee-ligament damage in tonight's 64-15 win against the United States in Montpellier. |
The Sharks front-row forward sustained the injury in the 27th minute and was replaced by CJ van der Linde, who went on to score one of the Springboks' nine tries in the Pool A romp.
Bryan Habana, who grabbed a try double, was also forced off the field with a head injury - but White's prognosis on the winger was distinctly better than his forecast for Botha.
``Bryan is fine - he just had some stitches,'' said White.
``BJ, I think, will be ruled out - he has done something to his knee ligaments.
``We will decide who will come in tomorrow. I'm not quite sure yet.''
Botha's injury ruined what was otherwise an encouraging evening for the Springboks, who built on a 24-10 half-time lead to race away to their fourth straight group win.
White played close to his strongest team, with a quarter-final date with Fiji coming up next week - and once they got into their stride, they were unstoppable.
Centre Jaque Fourie joined Habana in scoring two tries - with Schalk Burger, Francois Steyn, Van der Linde, Fourie du Preez and Juan Smith also going over.
Percy Montgomery added six conversions and a penalty in a 15-point personal haul, while Butch James kicked two more conversions.
The Eagles, who return home winless and with the group's wooden spoon to boot, managed tries through Takudzwa Ngwenya and Chris Wyles - with Mike Hercus booting a penalty and a conversion.
Ngwenya's was a beauty, the Zimbabwe-born flyer outpacing Habana down the right flank to score a sensational try which received warm applause from the crowd.
White, however, was happy with the way his side applied themselves in their last test before the knockout stages.
``We are very pleased,'' he added.
``What we wanted to accomplish was to get some structure and continuity to our game - and some of the tries we scored were very pleasing. I don't think the US are as weak as the scoreline suggests.
``The most important thing was that we put things together on a game day.
``We haven't been executing them that well so far, but I was happy with the way we kept the ball alive.''
The Springboks were expecting to play Wales in the quarter-finals, but Fiji's marvellous win in Nantes yesterday put paid to that.
``I think everyone would have assumed Wales would win that game,'' White added.
``But we mustn't worry about who goes through. We have won our four group games - and now we have to win three knockout games.
``It's now getting tough. But we have played Samoa and Tonga, so we have had practice against South Sea sides.''
The Eagles played their part in an entertaining, end-to-end encounter which rounded off the tournament's pool stages.
Once again, a minnow worried one of the competition's big guns in patches - but the Springboks had too much pace and power for Peter Thorburn's men overall.
New Zealander Thorburn, taking charge of the team for the last time, was proud of his team's performance.
``My players fought for every bit of ground,'' he said.
``We didn't get the rub of the green with the little things - they seem to go against the minnow sides.
``But we fought it out until the end. South Africa put their best side out to prove something and they will be fairly pleased with their work-out.
``People will look at the scoreboard, but that is not what the game was about.
``It was fantastic. am so proud, as I was after the England game [which the US lost 28-10].
``Even though we haven't had a win, we have really.''
In Ngwenya, the US have one of the finds of the tournament - and his try tonight will live long in the memory.
He also scored a superb solo effort in the Eagles' 25-21 defeat to Samoa in midweek, and captain Hercus was quick to sing his praises.
``I guess the rugby world considers Bryan the fastest guy around, but Ngwenya put his hand up here,'' said the former Sale fly-half.
``We've seen what he can do in training; he's so fast. I just wanted to get the ball to him.'' |
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