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South Africa victory marred by serious injury to BJ Botha

South Africa's 64-15 World Cup win over the US was overshadowed on Sunday when the Springboks lost prop BJ Botha for the rest of the tournament with a knee injury.

South Africa tuned up for next Sunday's quarter-final against Fiji with nine tries in their concluding Pool A victory, but the loss of Botha, as well as some defensive holes, left coach Jake White with serious patching-up work to do this week.

Initial fears about a facial injury to flying winger Bryan Habana were eased with news that he only needed stitches.

Habana had a clash of heads with opposite number Takudzwa Ngwenya and came off with a cut cheek.

"Bryan's fine, he's got some stitches, but I think BJ [Botha] is going to be ruled out, he has done some knee ligament damage and a decision has to be made whether he has an operation," White said.

Electric winger Ngwenya left the Springboks with red faces when he burnt off Habana, reputedly the fastest man in rugby, sprinting around him to finish off a terrific 85m try just before half-time.

South Africa were never in trouble, despite the Eagles' tenacity, and fly-half Butch James and backrower Schalk Burger had good games.

Fullback Percy Montgomery finished with 15 points, from six conversions and one penalty to take over again as the leading tournament scorer with 67 points.

The Springboks dominated territory and possession and put the Americans under immense pressure to lead 24-3 with five minutes to half-time.

But Zimbabwe-born Ngwenya brought the crowd roaring to their feet when he finished an intercept by openside flanker Todd Clever deep inside the US' quarter and burnt off Habana to run around and score under the crossbar for the Eagles to trail 24-10 at halftime.

The try gave the gutsy Americans some reward for a backs-to-the-wall rearguard with fly-half James controlling the Springbok attack.

Center Jaque Fourie and Habana finished with two tries each and Habana has now scored six tries at the tournament, one behind leading try-scorer Drew Mitchell of Australia.

James' distribution was outstanding and he featured in many of the Springbok tries, although Burger, playing in the unfamiliar No.8 position, was judged man-of-the-match in his first game back from a two-match suspension.

The US again pierced the South African defense for their second try of the night, fullback Chris Wyles scoring in the corner with five minutes left.
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