Oct 14, 2007, 21:30 GMT
Paris - South Africa will meet England in next weekend's final of the Rugby World Cup after defeating Argentina 37-13 in their semi-final played in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Watched by South African golfer Ernie Els, who earlier on Sunday won his seventh World Match Play Championship in England before rushing to catch a plane to watch his compatriots in the rugby semi- final, the 1995 winners built up a commanding 24-6 first half lead as they capitalized on Argentina's mistakes.
But even though they seemed to be in command throughout the game, South African coach Jack White, who is said to be leaving the team at the end of the competition, admitted that his side was getting nervous at times.
'I think as both sides went into the game unbeaten, they were under a lot of pressure not to lose.'
He added that England would have some advantages in the final. 'I think it counts in their favour that many of the side played in the last final.
'But then on the other hand both sides have never lost a World Cup final, hopefully our record will stay.'
Fourie du Preez scored the first try for the Springboks in the seventh minute as he intercepted a pass from Felipe Contepomi well into his own half before sprinting some 70 metres.
The competition's top scorer Percy Montgomery made no mistake with the conversion to give his side a seven-point lead.
Contepomi made amends for his mistake seven minutes later with a well-taken penalty after the referee had adjudged captain John Smit to have infringed an opponent.
But if Argentina thought they were back in the game, their belief lasted just one minute as Montgomery put over a penalty to bring back the seven-point lead.
On the half hour Contepomi found the posts again with another penalty to make it 10-6, but South Africa immediately hit back with a try by Bryan Habana, which saw him sprint onto a ball he kicked forward and he received a lucky bounce allowing him to score between the posts.
Montgomery successfully converted.
In injury time Danie Rossouw scored another try which Montgomery converted to give the Springboks a convincing 24-6 lead as they went into the change-rooms.
The South Americans were hoping for a dramatic come-back after Manuel Contepomi scored a try for his side five minutes after the restart, which his brother duly converted to reduce the score to 11 points.
The match then became a niggly affair and the referee frequently had to separate players from both sides.
Penalties from Montgomery in the 71st and 74th minute effectively put the game beyond the Pumas' reach and in the 76th minute the African side added a fourth try as they again intercepted allowing Habana to run through and score his eighth try of the tournament, making him the competitions top scorer.
Montgomery's 17-point match tally with a 100 per cent record, took him to 93 points for the tournament - 22 points more than the second- placed Felipe Contepomi.
Referee Steve Walsh from New Zealand sent South African Juan Smith and Felipe Contepomi to the sin bin in the last minutes, but it made no difference as South African ran in a convincing 37-13 victory.
On Saturday England qualified for the final when they stunned the hosts France 14-9 in the other semi-final.
South African captain Smit said that he was very proud of his players' performance. 'We stuck to our guns and took the game to them.
'I think we rested on our laurels a bit too much early in the second half and it was a lapse of concentration that allowed them to come back.
'But that was a wake-up call for us and I am pretty pleased with the way we then turned it around. Now we are looking forward to the final against England.
'It is amazing that we are playing against them twice in the same competition and they did really well to get to the final.'
Smit said that rugby fan Els had already given South Africa a great start to the day by winning the World Match Play Championship earlier Saturday. 'That gave us a 1-0 lead and we added another.'
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