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PARIS - Veteran South Africa fullback Percy Montgomery made up for missing the 2003 rugby World Cup through suspension as he inspired his side to a 59-7 victory over a valiant Samoa at the Parc des Princes today.
The dashing 33-year-old man of the match - who received a two year ban in 2003 for abusing a touch judge - scored two tries amongst his 29 points while star wing Bryan Habana grabbed four.
Jaque Fourie and JP Pietersen grabbed one try apiece.
It was a commanding way to warm-up for Saturday's crunch Pool A match against reigning champions England, unimpressive in a 28-10 victory over the United States.
Samoa's highlight in a physical encounter came with a first-half try from Gavin Williams and the appearance in a record fifth World Cup for Brian Lima, on as a replacement.
Sadly that lasted all of four minutes before he exited after a typical no-holds barred tackle.
"It was tough," said South Africa coach Jake White. "It didn't go as we expected, it was a really physical performance (from Samoa).
"At one stage, when it was 14-7, I was worried. Full credit to Samoa."
The Pacific Islanders were certainly the crowd favourites.
"The French people were obviously supporting Samoa," said White. "At one point they were shouting 'Les Bleus'."
Samoa coach Michael Jones admitted his side had much work to do before meeting fellow Pacific nation Tonga.
"We need to make room for improvements because we can be strong in the tournament," said legendary flanker Jones, a World Cup-winner during the inaugural 1987 edition when playing for New Zealand.
"We are looking forward to playing Tonga. They are very physical so it's going to be twice as hard."
Samoa captain Semo Sititi was pleased by his side's endurance although concerned by some aspects of their set-piece play.
"We need to work on our line-outs, but defence was very good. Our boys put a lot of effort into this game."
The Springboks, 1995 world champions on home soil, saw Montgomery kick two early penalties, reward for the team's early pressure which led to Samoa errors in defence.
In the midst of a bruising battle, referee Paul Honiss brought the two captains together to tell them to calm things down.
But soon afterwards South African back-row forward Schalk Burger went dangerously high on Samoa halfback Junior Polu as they contested the ball and was extremely fortunate to stay on the pitch.
Montgomery was merciless with the boot and landed a huge penalty from just inside the Samoan half to make it 9-0.
The Samoans did get some reward for their tireless efforts as a brilliant short pass by Jerry Meafou released Williams, who broke the Springbok line to touch down. Williams converted his own try to make it 9-7.
Habana though was in shortly before halftime, cutting in from the left wing on a mazy run to outwit the Samoan defence.
And any thoughts of an upset disappeared on the stroke of the break as a swift Springbok passing move saw Montgomery go over in the corner and then land the conversion.
The result was put beyond doubt in the 47th minute, after Samoa had a try disallowed for offside, when Fourie ran the ball in with Montgomery converting.
Montgomery, Habana, Pietersen then all crossed late on as the Springboks finished in dominating style.
- AFP
