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South Africa 1.01 backers dodge a real bullet as Tonga come roaring back

Two late Tonga tries almost cause the biggest upset ever in Rugby World Cup history

TONGA gave the South Africans the scare of their lives when only going down 27-22 today, and could have caused the shock of any Rugby World Cup if a bounce of the ball went their way in the final play of the match.

South Africa started the match as 1-100 favourites on Betfair, with Tonga available at 119-1.

But at 10-7 to Tonga in the second half, they traded at 8 and South Africa drifted to 1.11.

The Springboks then sent on five of their first-team regulars from the bench and quickly pulled 27-10 clear, at which point Tonga drifted to 1000.

But the Pacific Islanders then scored two late tries to pull it back to 27-22 with three minutes left on the clock, and a chip through in the last play of the match agonizingly went in touch in the South African 22 inside of bouncing back into play to a Tongan hand.

England will not be relishing meeting Tonga next week