World Cup Diary: Lucky mascot Mandela visits Boks

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The visit marked the former South Africa president's first contact with the team since presenting the World Cup to Francois Pienaar after the 1995 final against New Zealand in Johannesburg.

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Mandela: Good omen for Boks

The players are considering flying him back for one of their major matches, such as when they face England at the Stade de France in Paris a week today.

Head coach Jake White said: "It is a real omen to see Mr Mandela. He has been to four Tests and he has never seen us lose.

"Who knows, as the tournament progresses, I'm sure that a nice personal gift from the team would be to fly him back to one of our big games."

South Africa captain John Smit will make his long-awaited return to action against Samoa.

The 29-year-old hooker has not played since injuring his hamstring against Australia in June.

In the absence of the injured Pierre Spies, Danie Rossouw is at No 8 and Butch James starts at fly half.

SOUTH AFRICA (v Samoa): Montgomery; Pietersen, Fourie, De Villiers, Habana; James, Du Preez; Du Randt, Smit, Van der Linde, Bakkies Botha, Matfield, Burger, Smith, Rossouw. Subs: Du Plessis, BJ Botha, Muller, Van den Berg, Januarie, Pretorius, Steyn.

Scotland back Andrew Henderson has been ruled out of his country's opening match against Portugal in Saint-Etienne on Sunday because of a dead leg suffered during the 27-3 defeat by South Africa last month.

However, No 8 Dave Callam has recovered from a face injury. The team will be announced today.