LONDON (AFP) –
World champions South Africa suffered their third successive defeat on their European tour as Saracens fly-half Derick Hougaard kicked a late winning drop-goal at Wembley on Tuesday.

Sarries were 18-6 down at the break but they recovered thanks to early second-half tries by Ernst Joubert and Brad Barritt.

Hougaard, a former Springbok player, then downed his native country with a goal five minutes from time to complete a 14-point personal haul.

South Africa, who played a second-string side here, have now lost to Leicester and France on tour, and will look to turn around their fortunes against Italy this weekend.

They scored tries through Juan de Jongh and Jongi Nokwe (2), with Ruan Pienaar kicking their other points, but their second-half collapse will disappoint head coach Peter De Villiers.

"This victory is massively up there with previous great Saracens performances," gushed Saracens veteran Hugh Vyvyan.

"To beat South Africa at Wembley is just fantastic. Its great for some of us here because we don't often get the chance to play the great players like these."

An extra edge had been added to the game, labelled jokingly by some as South Africa ?B' versus South Africa ?D', because of some pre-match verbal jousting between the two respective bosses.

De Villiers on Monday accused Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter of 'unethical' behaviour after the latter watched the South Africa squad in a skills session at the north London club's training ground in St Albans.

Venter, a former South Africa international, defended himself by insisting the players he watched were first-team stars who were not going to be involved on Tuesday, and sarcastically thanked De Villiers for the 'free advertising' his comments had attracted.

A crowd of 46,281 turned up to watch the match and a scrappy opening saw Hougaard and Pienaar trade penalties in the opening three minutes.

Pienaar then slotted over his second of the night, in the 16th minute, as the tourists, who lost prop CJ van der Linde to injury early on, started to turn the screw.

Moments later, only a superb last-ditch tackle by Noah Cato in the left corner prevented lock Andries Bekker from going over for the first try.

And as the one-way traffic kept on coming, captain Dewald Potgieter lost control of the ball 10 yards out with the line gaping.

A try was clearly imminent and it arrived in the 28th minute, De Jongh leaving Cato and Kameli Ratuvou in his wake as he bustled his way over on the left.

Pienaar missed the conversion, and then a penalty, but added the extras following the 38th-minute try by Nokwe, which was controversially awarded given the winger had run on to a ball that looked to have run free after a knock-on by team-mate Ashley Johnson.

The half-time entertainment saw a fan, Stuart Timmer win 250,000 pounds by punting the ball between the posts after it hit the crossbar from 35 yards out.

After his exploit, the supporter was handed a giant cheque, signed by Saracens owner Nigel Wray, who probably saw the profits of this Wembley venture disappear before his eyes.

Wray would have been cheered up by the start his side made to the second half.

Joubert's 44th-minute try came when he charged down a South Africa clearance before gathering the rebound to score.

The shell-shocked South Africans then conceded a second try 10 minutes later when England Saxons centre Barritt wriggled over from close range.

Hougaard's conversion made it 18-18.

Saracens' fans started to believe but in the 63rd minute, a well-worked move, which involved Wynand Olivier, Earl Rose and De Jongh, was finished off by Nokwe in the corner.

The conversion was missed and it would prove crucial. Hougaard booted a 70th minute penalty before landing the crucial drop with five minutes left.

SARAROGHA, Pakistan (Reuters) –
Pakistani forces have captured most main Taliban bases in their offensive in South Waziristan and will soon fan out into the rugged countryside to hunt for militants there, commanders said on Tuesday.

Soldiers have advanced faster than expected in their month-long offensive, seizing main roads and Taliban bases but militant leaders have apparently melted away while their bombers have unleashed carnage in towns.

The United States, weighing options for how to turn an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan, has welcomed the offensive but is keen to see Pakistan tackle Afghan Taliban factions based in lawless enclaves along the border.

Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told reporters on a trip to South Waziristan with the army that some militants might have slipped out the region but many were hiding.

"We still believe many are still here. They have gone to the countryside, the forested areas, to villages and into the caves," Abbas said.

"After taking complete control of the roads and the tracks, we are going to chase them in the forested areas, wherever they are hiding in the countryside," he said.

More than 500 militants had been killed in the offensive since October 17 while 70 soldiers had been killed, he said.

There has been no independent verification of casualties as reporters and other independent observers are not allowed into the conflict zone except on an occasional trip with the military.

The army on Tuesday took reporters to the captured Taliban bastion of Sararogha, where former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft on August 5.

Surrounded by barren, rocky ridges and cut through by dried-up streams, the settlement of mud-walled compounds was deserted of civilians. A security force fort that the militants captured was almost completely destroyed in the fighting.

HIDING IN CAVES

Soldiers displayed militant pamphlets including one on making bombs, captured ammunition and weapons, and pouched vests that suicide bombers pack with explosives and strap on.

Brigadier Mohammad Shafiq said his men had battled hard to capture the base: "Their defenses were well-constructed and we faced extremely tough resistance."

In the captured militant stronghold of Ladha, Brigadier Farrukh Jamal said his men had surrounded 35 militants hiding in forest-covered mountains nearby.

"They are hiding in caves and we will capture them soon or kill them," Jamal said.

Several rifle shots rang out and smoke rose over the slopes where the militants were hiding.

Jamal said his men had cut militant supply lines and would soon be advancing into deep forest to the west.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, visiting people displaced by the fighting, said he hoped the offensive would be over earlier than expected and civilians could go home.

U.S. President Barack Obama is hoping the Pakistani army will soon direct its attention to the Afghan Taliban factions and has stepped up pressure on Pakistan to go after them, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Abbas said the expected defeat of the Taliban in South Waziristan would create new conditions and opportunities.

"You have defeated the main, strongest terrorist organization of the area and it will create effects all around. It creates voids all around and will open more options for the state and military," Abbas said.

"Maybe you don't have to conduct more operations. By those effects you can achieve those objectives," he said.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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