A merciless South Africa continued their unbeaten start to their Rugby World Cup title defence with an 87-0 thrashing of Namibia on Thursday.

The Springboks scored 12 unanswered tries in what was little more than a training run at Albany's North Harbour Stadium - although they fell short of their 105-13 victory against Namibia in just the second international played between the two countries.

Bryan Habana finally broke South Africa's all-time try-scoring record when he crossed for the second try of the match - breaking the mark of 38 he shared with Joost van der Westhuizen.

Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh and Francois Hougaard each scored two tries, while Jaque Fourie, Francois Steyn, Morne Steyn, Danie Rossouw all crossed for one, while Namibia also conceded a penalty try.

Namibia started vigorously but it was clear from the outset that their opportunities were always going to be limited to scraps left for them by Springbok mistakes.

And there were probably too many of those for coach Peter de Villiers' liking, especially in the first half, including 10 handling errors to Namibia's eight.

But from the moment Aplon found space down the sideline for the game's first try after a brilliant quick blindside pass from halfback Hougaard, it was only a matter of how many points the South Africans could score in the 80 minutes available.

Another turnover from Namibia, this time when fullback Chrysander Botha lost the ball in a tackle, resulted in Habana racing down the left wing for the second try and the all-time Springboks record.

After a period of sustained defence by Namibia, they gave away successive scrum infringements, resulting in a penalty try being awarded in the 29th minute - the seventh conceded in World Cups by Namibia, a Cup record.

A clean break by inside-centre Francois Steyn resulted in Fourie racing in beneath the posts in the 37th minute.

There were some moments of encouragement for Namibia, none more than a startling run from an overthrown South African lineout by blindside flanker Tinus du Plessis. He charged 50m downfield before he was stopped, while left wing Heine Bock featured in another strong run.

However, the most satisfying moment had to belong to Botha for his brave tackle on replacement prop Tendai Mtawarira as he ploughed down the sideline at speed.

South Africa went to the break with a 31-0 lead but the statistics demonstrated the problems Namibia had - while they had as much as 46 percent possession, they could only claim 39 percent territory. And they conceded nine penalties to three.

Hiccups occurred at the start of the second half too, but finally a tap penalty taken by Hougaard created wide open space on the right flank and Francois Steyn crossed and touched down - one of four players who could have scored.

In the 60th minute Morne Steyn was fed on the blindside from a close-quarter ruck and his conversion from near the sideline saw him exit the game, while it also preceded a signal for South Africa to cut loose with successive tries to replacement de Jongh and Aplon.