Ex-Springbok in petrol bomb attack

Former Springbok player Dale Santon suffered second degree burn wounds when a petrol bomb was thrown into his house, Beeld newspaper reports.

Police spokesman Inspector Keith Chandler said a witness saw a person in an orange BMW throw an object into the Santon family's house in Plumstead, Cape Town, around midnight on Saturday.

Chandler said the witness took down the registration number of the BMW but it turned out to be a stolen number plate.

Santon told the Afrikaans daily that he woke up after midnight when he heard glass break.

"My first thought was that somebody was breaking into the house," he said.

But then he saw flames in the lounge and shouted at his wife and children to wake up and leave the house.

He suffered serious burn wounds to the face and arm when he tried to move a burning couch out of the lounge.

Santon has already undergone a skin transplant.

"I do not have any enemies that I know of. This is the work of cowards," said Santon, who played for the Springboks in 2003.