South Africa 87 Namibia 0: Habana rewrites history as Boks rout Namibia

Winger Habana registered the second of South Africa’s tries, being put clear by Danie Rossouw for a simple run-in to move beyond the mark of 38 he shared with 1995 World Cup winner Joost van der Westhuizen.

The other five-pointers came from Gio Aplon (2), Jaque Fourie, a penalty try, Francois Steyn, Morne Steyn, Juan de Jongh (2), Francois Hougaard (2) and Rossouw as Namibia were brushed aside.

Fly-half Morne Steyn added a penalty and six conversions for a 20-point haul, with replacement Ruan Pienaar also adding the extras to six scores.

The only concern for South Africa was the sight of lock Bakkies Botha, who has struggled with an Achilles injury, limping off in the second half.

Minnows Namibia enjoyed a brief early period of possession before they were robbed in contact and Hougaard sent Aplon clear.

Hougaard had a try called back but there then followed a scrappy passage of play with the Boks making a plethora of handling errors and allowing Namibia, whose flankers Jacques Burger and Tinus du Plessis were getting through a mountain of work.

But the second try arrived after 21 minutes with Rossouw’s cut-out pass giving Habana a straightforward score.

While South Aftica’s all-round game had lacked accuracy, their scrum was, as expected, proving far too strong and that yielded a penalty try on the half-hour mark.

And Fourie rounded off the first-half scoring as Francois Steyn’s half-break and smart offload saw him canter in by the posts.

The lively Hougaard’s quick tap led to Francois Steyn scoring for his third-straight World Cup match.

A powerful maul then laid the platform for Hougaard to give Morne Steyn an easy try before Pierre Spies’s barrelling run down the right saw him feed inside for replacement De Jongh to score just seconds after taking the field.

The floodgates were now wide open and Aplon waltzed over for the eighth try, with Hougaard gaining a richly-deserved score shortly after.

De Jongh took the try count in to double figures before Rossouw’s workaholic outing was rewarded and Hougaard rounded off the scoring.