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PARIS - South Africa emerged unscathed after being given a real fright by Tonga to become the first team into the rugby World Cup quarterfinals today.
The Springboks held on for a 30-25 victory in Lens which guarantees them top spot in pool A, securing a probable last eight meeting against Wales or Fiji.
England at last had reason to smile after their torrid defeat by South Africa, a 44-22 win over Samoa in Nantes going some way to restoring confidence.
The world champions will join the Springboks in progressing from pool A if they beat Tonga in their final match next Saturday (NZT).
Argentina have not looked back since surprising France in the tournament opener and the Pumas made it three wins from three in facile fashion, scoring nine tries Namibia in a 63-3 romp in Marseille.
The win left Argentina top of pool D on 14 points, four ahead of hosts France and five in front of Ireland.
The Pumas need only earn a defensive bonus point in their final game against Ireland to guarantee top spot and avoid a quarterfinal against favourites New Zealand.
"Of course, we have a lot of confidence and there's a chance we can win this pool but don't forget Ireland are a tough team and can fight back," Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda said.
South African coach Jake White's decision to field a second-string side against Tonga almost backfired as the Pacific islanders threatened a major upset.
White was forced to bring his heavy brigade off the bench after the Springboks had fallen 7-10 behind after an early second-half try by prop Kisi Pulu.
On came John Smit, Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield and Francois Steyn and the move appeared to pay off as tries from Juan Smith, Bobby Skinstad and fullback Ruan Pienaar, his second of the match, put daylight on the scoreboard.
But Tonga had shown resolve in shocking Samoa 19-15 in their last match and back they came with tries from centre Sukanaivalu Hufanga and flanker Viliami Vaki, setting up a tense finale.
White said his starting 15 had not let him down and paid tribute to battling Tonga.
"I'm not going to shoot them all at dawn. If they didn't play well they can learn from their experience," White said.
"It's unfair of me to say it was disappointing. They haven't played together much and full credit to Tonga.
"This is a World Cup and I can't underplay it. We got tested and we probably didn't get the marks we wanted but I think they passed with 50 per cent."
England coach Brian Ashton also breathed a sigh of relief as his team mixed resolute defence with some attacking flair in a bruising encounter with Samoa.
Captain Martin Corry and wing Paul Sackey scored two tries apiece and first five-eighth Jonny Wilkinson kicked 24 points on his first start of the tournament after shrugging off an ankle injury.
Samoa were no pushovers, though, and having trailed 12-23 at the break, Junior Polu's try kick-started a period of sustained pressure that England withstood before pulling away for the win.
"Today was a step in the right direction, hopefully it will give the whole squad that little boost in confidence that we have been looking for," Ashton said.
"We've started down the road to achieving more balance to our game but there is still a hell of a lot more work to do."
Looking ahead to the match against Tonga, Ashton added: "Next week is another knockout game, a fight to the death, and we will need to be substantially better."
- REUTERS
