South Africa’s World Cup title defence is back on track after a seven-try, bonus-point victory over Tonga who gave as good as they got, scoring three tries of their own. The five points collected in Marseille just about guarantees the Springboks’ passage to the quarter-finals. Barring an upset in the match involving Scotland and Ireland next week, Siya Kolisi’s men will meet France in Paris in a fortnight.
Tonga, who took the lead with an early William Havili penalty, have been accused of being less than the sum of their parts at this tournament and have lost heavily against Ireland and Scotland. Here they were cohesive around the fringe and at the breakdown and spent most of the opening half camped in South Africa’s 22.
