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Jake White hails super subs

Red Light: André Pretorius runs into a spot of trouble

South Africa coach Jake White paid tribute to his rescue team on the bench after seeing Tonga take his side all the way in a pulsating World Cup clash in Lens on Saturday.

The Springboks secured top spot in the group and a place in the quarter-finals with a 30-25 bonus-point victory over the Tongans, but it was far from straightforward.

Just 7-3 ahead at the break, the South Africans - fielding a largely second-string side - were being held at 10-10 going into the final 21 minutes.

White brought on his big guns, and the likes of Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield and Percy Montgomery helped establish a 27-10 lead.

Tonga fought back bravely and scored two tries in three minutes through Sukanaivalu Hufanga and Viliami Vaki to set up a tense final few moments, but they were unable to complete the comeback.

White also paid tribute to the Pacific islanders and admitted it had been a learning curve for his young starters, most of whom had sat out the wins over Samoa and England earlier in the tournament.

"We always knew the third game would be tough, but the plan was always to give some of the other guys a game," he said.

"I can't shoot them all at dawn. If we had kicked our goals and taken those points we should have at the start, it would have been a completely different story.

"They have not played together, and they must understand that this is a World Cup and you will be put under pressure. There is huge pressure when you are young.

"But the substitutes saved me. The senior guys came on and showed composure in a tough game.

"The important thing is that we passed - we might not have done as well as we wanted to but we passed. We didn't take all our chances and it was not as easy as they thought it would be. They will learn from that.

"In the second half, Tonga did not give up, especially after we scored some great tries.

"Obviously I am relieved and all credit must go to Tonga. I thought they were outstanding, especially when they came back from our big lead.

"They have 10 points on the log, it was a top-of-the-table clash and it looked like it. You must never underestimate Tonga.

"But we passed the test, and if you'd said we would have 14 points at this point, you would have taken it.

"We have three wins out of three so we look forward to next weekend against the United States."