Montgomery inspires South Africans

PARIS, France -- Veteran South Africa fullback Percy Montgomery inspired his side to a 59-7 victory over Samoa in their rugby World Cup Pool A clash at the Parc des Princes -- scoring 29 points.

The 33-year-old -- who received a two year ban in 2003 for abusing a touch judge -- scored two tries amongst his points while star winger Bryan Habana grabbed four and Jaque Fourie and JP Pietersen one apiece.

It was an commanding way to warm-up for Friday's match against reigning champions England, unimpressive in a 28-10 victory against the United States on Saturday.

Samoa's highlight came with a first-half try from Gavin Williams and the appearance in a record fifth World Cup for Brian Lima, as a replacement.

The Springboks, 1995 world champions on home soil, saw Montgomery kick two early penalties, reward for the team's early pressure which led to Samoa errors in defence.

Montgomery was merciless with the boot and he landed a huge penalty from just inside the Samoan half to make it 9-0.

The Samoans did get some reward for their tireless efforts as a brilliant short pass by Jerry Meafou released Williams, who broke the Springbok line to touch down. Williams converted his try to make it 9-7.

Habana though was in shortly before half-time, cutting in from the left wing on a mazy run to outwit the Samoan defence.

And any thoughts of an upset disappeared on the stroke of the break as a swift Springbok passing move saw Montgomery go over in the corner and then land the conversion.

The result was put beyond doubt in the 47th minute, after Samoa had a try disallowed for offside, when Fourie ran the ball in with Montgomery converting.

Montgomery, Habana, Pietersen then all crossed late on as the Springboks finished the contest in dominating style.

Meanwhile, Ireland stuttered to an unconvincing Pool D 32-17 victory over a spirited Namibia side in Bordeaux, but did at least earn a crucial bonus oint after scoring five tries.

It was far from vintage Ireland against a team that only a month ago conceded more than 100 points against South Africa in a World Cup warm-up.

Namibia, who have only six professional players, proved tough to break down despite Ireland opening the scoring after just four minutes.

After a great break by Denis Hickie, captain Brian O'Driscoll chipped ahead and out-paced Tertius Losper to score, with Ronan O'Gara converting.

That try moved O'Driscoll clear of team-mate Denis Hickie as Ireland's all-time leading try-scorer, with 30.

O'Gara cleverly orchestrated the next try, taking a tap penalty and lofting a high crossfield ball that left Andrew Trimble needing only to catch it and ground it for a 15-0 lead on 19 minutes.

On the half-hour, Simon Easterby finished off a big heave from the forwards by touching down but the biggest cheer came five minutes from the break when Namibia moved to within a yard of the Irish try-line, having opted to kick for touch rather than for goal when in the Irish 22.

A knock-on scuppered their hopes but Emile Wessels then landed a penalty to make the score 20-3 at the half-time break.

Ireland opened the second period with a penalty try, crucially giving them a bonus point for their fourth try of the game, which O'Gara converted.

Namibia refused to kick for goal when handed a penalty and their enterprise was rewarded on the hour when Jacques Burger rounded off a lightning break from Ryan Witbooi to touch down.

Four minutes later, Piet Van Zyl kicked-on and out-sprinted Girvan Dempsey for Namibia's second try.

They were even hard done by with Ireland's final try five minutes from time as a video replay clearly showed Jerry Flannery grounding the ball before the tryline. E-mail to a friend