article: The news that captain Jean de Villiers, who subsequently announced his retirement from the game, had been invalided out of the World Cup having broken his jaw in their powerhouse victory over Samoa on Saturday came as no surprise to anybody who saw the state the centre was in when he left the field. Nobody from the Scottish camp will admit it, but they must have quietly revelled in what they saw at Villa Park. The attrition was incessant, as everybody knew it would be. The Samoans didn't just hit hard, they hit often and, on occasion, hit dangerously. There is a strong element of the kamikaze about Samoa in the collision. Their unique delights await the Scots, whose coach Vern Cotter could have been excused if he basked in the brutality of the battle while counting the Springbok casualties as they happened. The wince-inducing moments didn't begin and end with De Villiers. In restoring some of the dignity lost in their defeat by Japan, the Springboks shipped some serious physical punishment. When asked later how long his casualty list was, coach Heyneke Meyer turned the question back on the questioner. "How long have you got?" he asked. "How long does this press conference last?" In the countdown to the Scotland game on Saturday, Meyer has a potential crisis in his midfield. De Villiers is out and his midfield partner, Damian de Allende, is a doubt with an ankle injury. De Allende was forced off early in the second half against the Samoans and was replaced by the young rapier Jesse Kriel, who, in turn, went off after getting a bang in the face and was replaced by De Villiers, the captain forced to retake the field despite the pain he must have been in. It's too early for the medics to make a definitive call on De Allende and Kriel but already Jan Serfontein, the Bulls centre, is on his way to Newcastle to meet up with the Springboks. There is speculation now of an emergency Springbok midfield for the Scotland game - Handre Pollard, a 10, could be put in at 12 instead of De Villiers and either JP Pietersen, a try-scoring wing against Samoa, or Bryan Habana, his world-class opposite wing, could be selected at 13. All of this is a concern for the South Africans, but underlying it is the enormous relief that came with Saturday's performance. They might be bruised, but the clear message from Birmingham is that the Boks are back. To listen to Meyer and the totemic Victor Matfield in the aftermath was to know what kind of week the Springboks endured after the loss to Japan. This was heart-on-the-sleeve stuff in the news conference, not to mention on the pitch. It was painfully honest and emotional at times. At one point Meyer thanked the Lord for blessing his players and staff with the strength to get through the turbulence. What was deeply impressive about the Boks in dismissing the Samoans was their controlled fury. Clearly they were an angry team. Clearly they were under
summary: For South Africa, salvation came at a cost.