White wary of Wilkinson

Coach Jake White insists South Africa's 36-0 victory over England a month ago is an irrelevance heading into Saturday's World Cup final because of one man - Jonny Wilkinson.

The England fly-half was injured for the Pool A clash at the Stade de France four weeks ago and the Springboks took full advantage to register a record victory.

But England have not lost since Wilkinson returned to action and in last night's first semi-final he kicked a late penalty and drop-goal to seal a 14-9 win over France.

After South Africa booked their place in the final with a 37-13 victory over Argentina, White said: "Whatever happened in this tournament in the past is irrelevant.

"They played that Test without a fly-half. They lost Olly Barkley and Jonny Wilkinson in that week.

"They have proven they are a different team when they have Jonny Wilkinson at 10 and obviously Mike Catt at 12. I was right what I said that night - we mustn't start writing England off.

"You just have to look at the impact of the number 10 at this World Cup and there is no doubt England will be a completely different team with Jonny Wilkinson at 10.''

South Africa have an impressive recent record against England, winning the last four encounters dating back to the autumn internationals at Twickenham last November.

But White believes England will benefit from the experience the likes of Wilkinson and captain Phil Vickery gained from winning the World Cup four years ago.

"We have won the last four games against England but World Cup finals are different,'' he said.

"England have a lot of players who have played in a World Cup final. That experience is a massive advantage.''

South Africa cruised into the final, scoring three first half tries on the back of elementary Argentinian mistakes.

Fourie du Preez scored after picking off an intercept from Felipe Contepomi and Bryan Habana struck on a devastating counter-attack before Danie Roussow galloped over on the stroke of half-time.

Habana applied the coup de grace with his second try five minutes from time - another intercept - to become the tournament's leading try-scorer.

Percy Montgomery added the icing with a faultless kicking display to finish with 17 points.

"It hasn't sunk in yet we are playing in a World Cup final,'' said White.

"But we have achieved nothing so far. We are really proud of our achievement but it is meaningless if we don't get a win next weekend.''

South Africa president Thabo Mbeki will fly out to watch the final next weekend and White revealed the Springboks will also be inviting Nelson Mandela.

White is close friends with Argentina head coach Marcelo Loffreda, who has led the Pumas to fourth in the Test rankings and their first World Cup semi-final.

"It is an incredible achievement what he has done for Argentina rugby. The fact they made the semi-finals is one of biggest achievements in Argentinian sport,'' said White.

"He needs to be applauded for that. He has done really well.''

Pichot pleads for minnows to be given a chance

Argentina captain Agustin Pichot warned it would be the "end for rugby" if tournament organisers go ahead with plans to cut the World Cup to a 16-team event.

The Pumas' amazing run in the competition came crashing to an end tonight with a 37-13 defeat to South Africa in the second semi-final.

But they can hold their heads high after a marvellous run of results that could help secure them a place in the southern hemisphere's Tri-Nations tournament over the next few years.

They will serve as an inspiration to other up-and-coming teams, such as the Pacific Island countries, for future World Cups, but the IRB has not ruled out cutting the number of entrants from 20 to 16.

Pichot insists that would be the wrong way to go, saying: "Rugby has to make some tough decisions now, whether to go for a more romantic and more non-profitable path.

"If the World Cup is cut from 20 to 16, I think that will be the end of rugby.

"We need to give all the countries a chance to play on this stage, even if they are not ready to play.

"Two of the greatest teams in world rugby (New Zealand and Australia) have gone home at the quarter-final stage. They have a lot of power.

"We have to look where we want to go. Open rugby, or six-to-10 team rugby.''

Pichot was in tears as he praised the efforts of his team, who progressed through the group stages unbeaten and then beat Scotland before being undone by the four-try Springboks.

"We really believed we could achieve something, but something was missing,'' added the veteran Racing Metro scrum-half.

"I won't have another chance to be a world champion, and that really hurts more than anything else.

"We have been waiting for so long, so it's a really sad day. We did everything, but it was beyond our reach.

"We made the semi-finals and we wanted to be world champions but it wasn't possible.''

Argentina contributed to their own downfall, handing interception tries to Fourie du Preez and Bryan Habana either side of half-time.

Habana added another electric score in the first half, while Danie Rossouw capitalised on a Juan Martin Hernandez knock-on to go over for the decisive third try just before the break to make it 24-6.

Felipe Contepomi, who had landed two penalties before the break, converted brother Manuel's try in the 53rd minute, which brought the score to 24-13. But that was the closest they would come.

Percy Montgomery killed the Pumas with seven successful goal attempts out of seven.

Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda admitted his players were their own worst enemies.

"I am very proud of my team and players but we were the victims of our own mistakes,'' said the future Leicester Tigers coach.

"We were beaten by a great team - they were markedly better than us.

"South Africa are very dangerous, and when they have space or when you make mistakes, knock-ons or drop the ball, they take advantage and score. We paid dearly for the mistakes we made.''

Loffreda also had some harsh words for Kiwi referee Steve Walsh, who penalised the Pumas a number of times at the breakdown.

"We could not understand the referee in the first half, he never explained what was going to on in the mauls,'' he said.

"We were twice done for obstruction, but they did it in the second half and they got away with it. That is what annoyed me.

"We had issues with the referee when he wasn't saying hands off. We are used to hearing this. That is the difference between the two hemispheres.

"Nonetheless, it is not the reason for the result tonight.''