Skinstad is expected to be sidelined for around six weeks

Stand-in skipper Skinstad suffered a broken rib in Saturday's 25-17 Tri-Nations defeat to Australia to place his World Cup place in jeopardy.

White argued that had he not rested players he could have faced even more disruption to his plans.

"I could be sat here with my front-line players out for six months," he said.

The decisions we've made in the last four years have been the right decisions South Africa coach Jake White

White, who was criticised by the Australian Rugby Union for sending a side widely derided as a B-team, said Skinstad's injury showed he was right to leave more than 20 top players at home for the Springboks final two Tri-Nations matches.

"It just reaffirms as a coach that the decisions we've made in the last four years have been the right decisions," he said.

However, White remains confident that Skinstad could still recover in time for the World Cup.

"I think, if I work out my sums correctly, most ribs heal in six weeks, which means he's got three weeks to recover before the World Cup so it's not all doom and gloom," he said.

Certain players put their hands up and showed that they can play at Test level Jake White

The coach was also satisfied with his team's performance as they raced to a 17-0 lead before their vastly experienced opponents recovered to claim victory.

"Certain players put their hands up and showed that they can play at Test level, in terms of World Cups," he said, singling out Bulls flanker Wikus van Heerden, who scored South Africa's first try.

"When we landed here a lot of people thought it would be one-way traffic but we attacked from our own in-goal area. They were happy to take the win, whereas 10 days ago they were looking for a bonus point.

"I'm very happy where we are with the squad of players, we've been working very hard for four years to put players together.

"Obviously we're not happy with losing. We really came here to win and give us a chance to go to New Zealand and win the Tri-Nations. That was our goal, but there was a lot of positives we could take after the game."

Skinstad has been replaced in the squad by Western Stormers utility forward Gerrie Britz, who is likely to be among the replacements against New Zealand on Saturday.