It is certain that Dalton will be suspended for the rest of the tournament.An unrepentant Rees appeared at the press conference afterwards, and said: "I don't regret getting involved. I regret getting sent off, but I don't think I disgraced myself We're a very tight team This is a side that lost 73-7 to New Zealand recently. There's a great deal of soul-searching been done by the players since then and I can't defend them enough."Ray Skett, the Canadian team manager summed the situation up precisely: "The game started in the dark and it finished blackly. It was a heck of a melee out there."Canada: S Stewart (Univ of BCOB); W Stanley (Univ of BC), C Stewart (Western Province), S Gray (Kats), D Lougheed (Toronto Welsh); G Rees (capt, Newport), J Graf; E Evans (Univ of BCOB), M Cardinal (James Bay), R Snow (Dogs), A Charron (Ottawa Irish), G Ennis (Kats), G McKinnon (Britannia Lions), I Gordon (James Bay), C McKenzie (Univ of BCOB).South Africa: A Joubert (Natal); G Johnson, C Scholtz (Transvaal), B Venter (Free State), P Hendriks (Transvaal); J Stransky (Western Province), J Roux (Transvaal); G Pagel (Western Province), J Dalton (Transvaal), M Hurter (Northern Transvaal), K Wiese, H Strydom, F Pienaar (capt, Transvaal), R Brink (Western Province), A Richter (Northern Transvaal).Referee: D McHugh (Ireland).. The match committee were studying it last night and the Canadians said they would be looking at it today to decide on a course of action. The Canadians spent long periods camped on the South African line but finished empty-handed, Stransky's second-half penalty proving to be the only further score.What the match will produce, though, is hours of analysis of the video of the trouble. The television replay, however, showed that if anyone should have gone it was Scott Stewart, the Canadian full-back who ran some distance to take part in the fighting.What had preceded it was instantly forgotten, but the Canadians had acquitted themselves extremely well and showed a determination to run at the Springboks, who had struggled to establish any early superiority but won the match with 17 points in a 20-minute burst in the first half.It started with a penalty by Joel Stransky, before two converted tries from push-over scrums were scored by Adriaan Richter.

Given the flurry of punches that had broken out, it was almost impossible for the referee to pick out the main offenders for expulsion. It took most of the shine off a victory that sends the Springboks into the quarter-finals and it is certainly not the way the Canadians would have wanted to bid farewell to the tournament, especially as they have been hugely popular guests in Port Elizabeth. When the match ended the Canucks ran a couple of lengths of the pitch, applauding the crowd and waving a banner that read "Thank you, PE".There was no such cordiality 10 minutes earlier. As a result of the free-for-all, Hannes Strydom, the South African lock had to leave the field with blood pouring from his face. The start of this match was delayed for 35 minutes when the floodlights failed to work, and then, after 70 minutes of good, hard and often delightful rugby, a dozen or so players blew a fuse, a bloody punch-up broke out, and three men were sent off.James Dalton of South Africa and Rod Snow of Canada were dismissed by the referee, David McHugh, and with them, most surprisingly, went Gareth Rees, the Canadian captain.

Canada 0 South Africa 20 Tries: Richter 27, 34 Con: Stransky 27, 34Pen: Stransky 17, 47THE LIGHTS went out last night on the World Cup. He had suffered a severe blow between his fourth and fifth vertebrae, and is likely to have an operation in about three days' time.The Africans, beaten 89-0 and 54-18 in their previous pool D matches, observed a minute's silence before the kick-off following the death of the father of their captain, Athanese Dali.Both sides had already been eliminated from the tournament, but the game was a triumph for the Tongan full-back Sateki Tu' ipulotu, who scored 14 points.. Doctors at the hospital said he was in intensive care though his neck had not been broken. The 24-year-old electrician, who lives in Paris, had been trapped at the bottom of a maul and was unable to move his legs or his left arm when he arrived by helicopter at Unitas Hospital in Verwoerdburg, near Pretoria, 60 miles away. The game was held up for 10 minutes while Brito was secured to a stretcher with special braces.

THE IVORY COAST wing Max Brito was airlifted from the pitch with a serious spinal injury after only two minutes of his country's 29-11 World Cup defeat by Tonga in Rustenberg yesterday. But nothing and no-one was going to stop N'Tamack.So, by doing to the Scots what they had done to the French in Paris, they proved that there is some form of justice no matter how rough.Scotland: G Hastings (Watsonians, capt); C Joiner (Melrose), S Hastings (Watsonians), G Shiel (Melrose, rep by I Jardine, Stirling County), K Logan (Stirling County); C Chalmers (Melrose), B Redpath (Melrose); D Hilton (Bath), K Milne (Heriot's FP), P Wright (Boroughmuir, rep by P Burnell, London Scottish), D Cronin (Bourges), G Weir (Melrose), R Wainwright (West Hartlepool), I Morrison (London Scottish), E Peters (Bath).France: J-L Sadourny (Colomiers); E N'Tamack (Toulouse), P Sella (Agen), T Lacroix (Dax), P Saint-Andre (Montferrand, capt); C Deylaud (Toulouse), G Accoceberry (Bordeaux, rep by A Hueber, Toulon); L Benezech (Racing Club), J-M Gonzalez (Bayonne), C Califano (Toulouse), O Merle (Montferrand), O Roumat (Dax), A Benazzi (Agen), L Cabannes (Racing Club), P Benetton (Agen, rep by M Cecillon, Bourgoin).Referee: W Erickson (Australia). Another two penalties, one apiece, and the Scots remained four points ahead. All around was frenzy and passion, but Scotland were holding out.