The heavens answer Heyneke

The chances of South Africa winning the Rugby World Cup have just increased by a significant margin after news that the teams captain Jean de Villiers has played his last game.

The Bok centre broke his jaw once again during the game against Samoa and will need surgery.

The reason for the increased chances for the Boks is that with one less toppie on the field and an inform youngster to take his place, things can only work out for the better.

Jan Serfontein will be one such youngster who will be out to prove to coach Heyneke Meyer that it was a mistake to leave him out of the 31 man squad in the first place.

De Villiers, at 34-years-old has captained the Bokke 37 times, retires as the second most capped Springbok captain of all time, and is currently the fourth most capped player in the history of South African Test rugby, with 109.

It is unfortunate that since 2003, when he was first selected to participate in a World Cup, that the only campaign he has ever completed was in 2011.

With pressure mounting on the Bokke following their surprise loss to Japan, the team was hellbent on securing a victory against the Samoans to get their campaign back on track.

The encounter between the two teams was a highly physical encounter, with both teams competing for ball at the breakdown.

Pollard gave the Boks an early 3-0 lead after just 2 minutes.

Samoan number 10 Michael Stanley then slotted two penalties to give the Pacific islanders a 6-3 lead, the only time they led in the game.

JP Pietersen broke up a Samoan backline move, intercepting in the Samoan half to sprint 70 metres to score the first try of the match and give South Africa a 11-6 lead after 20 minutes.

Handre Pollard added two more penalties to increase the lead 17-6 at the break.

In the second half, it was Pietersen once again who dotted down the line in the right hand corner just seven minutes after the restart.

His hatrick came in the 79th minute when he simply dotted in another try which he made look easy.

He completed his hatrick in the 79th minute, again, dotting down in the right hand corner like he did for his second score.

Schalk Brits was then bundled for another try before Bryan Habana rolled back the years with a brilliant try as he sprinted down the left wing to finish the game off.

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