Springboks coach Peter de Villiers fears he may be about to lose veteran lock Victor Matfield for the rest of the Rugby World Cup.
The 34-year-old limped out of the defending champions’ nailbiting 17-16 win over Wales in Wellington and was joined on the sidelines by key centre Jean de Villiers.
“I’m very worried about them,” said coach de Villiers, waiting for medical assessments on Monday.
The Springboks fielded the most experienced side in Test history but the bench came to the rescue after de Villiers was forced, and then chose, to make changes.
Replacement winger Francois Hougaard scored what proved to be the matchwinning try just four minutes after going on.
“Our bench came on and made the difference – that’s the reason why they’re there. When you bring on fresh legs they must up the tempo and put the opposition under pressure – they did just that,” he said.
De Villiers said his players had their character tested but he was happy enough to clear the first hurdle.
Wales had chances to win the match after Hougaard’s try but failed with two kicks – a drop goal and a penalty goal – in the closing stages.
Captain John Smit said Wales made life difficult for South Africa by denying them the ball.
“We didn’t get a lot of chance to play rugby,” he said.
Smit was not worried about the performance of the Springboks, saying it was their plan to ease their way into the tournament rather than hit their straps too early.
He was fulsome in his praise of opposing captain Sam Warburton who was named man of the match.
“He was a pain to play against. He was unbelievable at the breakdown.”
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