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Wellington - In the build-up to South Africa's 17-16 victory over Wales, wing Francois Hougaard said making his Rugby World Cup debut against Wales would be something he would remember for a long time.
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He did not anticipate celebrating the great achievement by also scoring his first try in a Springbok jersey.
"It is a great honour and privilege to play here and scoring my first try for the Springboks made it even more special," said Hougaard said after the match.
"It was amazing and, like my debut, it's one of those tries I won’t easily forget. It was really incredible."
His moment of magic ensured the Springboks regained the lead they had earlier relinquished after Wales scored their only try of the match through eighthman Toby Faletau.
The five-pointer was a replica of the try Hougaard scored for the Bulls against the Stormers in the 2010 Super 14 final in Soweto - the biggest difference being a much softer landing.
Commenting on the match and how his team fared against a very impressive Welsh outfit, Hougaard reiterated coach Peter de Villiers' earlier comments that the team achieved what they set out to do.
"Look, it wasn’t pretty but a win is a win and we had a job to do, which we did," said Hougaard.
Asked to reflect on his burst of pace which brought the 33 000-strong stadium to their feet he said: "Sometimes it doesn’t open up when you make those runs.
"That gap only opens up once or twice and then it is a matter of finding the lazy runners and most of the time they are forwards because the backs are spreading out wide.
"Luckily I managed to get in between the two forwards from where I scored."
Even though he was delighted with his contribution he made at a desperate time in the game, he insisted there were no signs of panic on the field.
"When John [Smit] came off, he told the guys just to stick to what they are doing, which they did and we pulled it through.
"As I said, there is a lot of character in this team and the guys showed that again tonight."
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