South Africa have booked a quarter final meeting with the winner of Pool D after a comprehensive 60 -10 victory over Samoa at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
After a below par performance against Georgia and a defeat at the hands of England, the South Africans roared back into form with their eight try haul.
A clinical and disciplined performance by the South African forwards set the foundation for a dominant first half for the Springboks as they starved the Samoans of possession and forced plenty of errors from their opponents.
A great half from the 1995 champions saw them head to the break 31-3.
Samao score
Samoa brought their fans to their feet with the first try of the second half when lock Opeta Palepoi scored with a great show of strength in the 47th minute to score outwide.
The Springboks showed their pedigree when they then absorbed a great deal of pressure from their opponents to stop any further scoring after Samoa finally started to enjoy a fair share of possession.
The first South African points of the second half came through a Hougaard penalty on 61 minutes.
Two minutes later he was in the unenviable position of being on the wrong end of the tackle of the Tournament.
Lima's tackle of the match
The youngster was left sucking for breath after being lined up by Samoan veteran Brian Lima in a tackle which must have made other attackers happy this would be his last RWC.
The South African team ended the hopes of a comeback with a run away try to wing Ashwin Willemse, the conversion to Hougaard took his personal tally to 21 before he was replaced on 70 minutes.
Jacques Fourie scored just moments after coming on and fullback Jaco van der Westhuyzen finished off a great team try with a huge swan dive as his team broke the 50.
Replacement Neil de Kock also got his name on the score sheet with the game won, while Louis Koen reminded coach Rudolf Straeuli of his presence as he landed the last two difficult conversions.
Blaze of glory
The Springboks started the game in a blaze of glory with two tries in the opening 12 minutes. In just the second minute veteran scrum half Joost van der Westhuizen made a cheeky dash down the blindside from the scrum and he found flanker Joe van Niekerk inside to score under the posts.
The Samoans responded well with a quick penalty through fly half Earl Va’a on five minutes, however the South Africans were over again in the 12th minute through centre Jorrie Muller after his forwards had dominated.
South Africa 60
Tries: van Niekerk, Muller, Hougaard, Smith, Willemse, Fourie, van der Westhuyzen, de Kock
Con: Hougaard 5, Koen 2
Pens: Hougaard
Drop kicks: Hougaard
Defeated
Samoa 10
Tries: Palepoi
Con: Va’a
Pen: Va’a