Hailing the Habana that was
22 Sep 2011
JON CARDINELLI says that Bryan Habana’s 39th try should be celebrated in the context of his career rather than mark an irrefutable return to his previously potent form.
Twenty-two minutes. For 22 minutes the 27 000 spectators crammed into North Harbour Stadium sat forward in their seats, willing the man in the Springbok No 11 jersey to score. The decibel level spiked, but the euphoria was stayed for as many as 22 minutes as the Namibian defenders scragged, tackled and stifled Bryan Habana.
It was a breakdown turnover that would provide the platform for the immortal strike. Schalk Burger shifted the ball quickly and a superb pass by Danie Rossouw created the space on the outside. Marginally in front of the pass, Habana took the ball like the Habana of old, reeling it in before accelerating beyond the despondent Namibia defenders and rounding the posts.
The finish said it all. Habana tossed the ball a mile into the air, pointed his finger to the sky and beamed that beatific smile. After 15 months and 12 Test matches, he’d finally broken through the barrier. More significantly, he’d displaced Joost Westhuizen as South Africa’s most prolific try-scorer of all time.
It was a moment for all Bok supporters inside the North Harbour Stadium and indeed the millions back in South Africa to savour. There was no point pretending that the Habana in Albany was anything but a poor impostor of the player that thrilled and captivated in Paris four years ago. Apart from that fine finish, it was another in a series of underwhelming performances from a winger who is well beyond is best. However, in the context of a career that began brilliantly and drifted into the realm of the mediocre, you couldn’t help but feel that Habana deserved to score the try that would secure the milestone of milestones.
From 2004 to 2007, Habana racked up as many as 30 tries in 36 matches. He credited much of his success to the extra work he did with visuals specialist Sherylle Calder, as his anticipation off the ball allowed him to beat opponents through great positioning as much as peerless pace.
Habana stopped using Calder’s exercises in 2008, and his form began to dip. In the matches leading up to the 2011 World Cup, he would score just eight tries in 34 Tests, and what started as a monkey on his back quickly became an 800-pound gorilla. Heyneke Meyer said it best in early 2011 when he described Habana as a man in quicksand. Habana’s former mentor didn’t sound optimistic that the once white-hot winger would rekindle that old flame.
While the stat of eight tries between 2008 and 2011 would serve to underline his impotency, it was made worse by the fact that three of those tries came against Italy. Even now, Habana has scored nine tries in the 36 Tests during the aforementioned years, and three have come against Italy and one against lowly Namibia.
He was rightly applauded when he crossed for that 39th try, and for a moment we were allowed to remember Habana as he was four years ago: an exciting and dangerous player that would always present a threat to even the best opposition defence.
Unfortunately, the rest of his performance at the North Harbour Stadium was consistent with what he’d produced prior to the 2007 World Cup. Against Namibia, he was also largely overshadowed by the likes of Gio Aplon and Francois Hougaard, two attacking exponents that need to be utilised more by South Africa in future if they hold any hope of developing their attacking game.
It was Habana’s night, but it’s never been so clear that it’s no longer his time.
Aplon dazzled with those gliding runs from the back, and when Hougaard shifted to wing in the final quarter he added that injection of pace that was, to recall a player of recent years, Habana-esque. These are the players that have the ability to confound defences and break open games much in the same manner Habana did in his early years. They’re the players that are up there with James O’Connor, Israel Dagg and Quade Cooper, and it’s high time they were acknowledged and integrated into the Bok game plan.
As for Habana, we should remember him for the player he was in 2007. He will go down in the annals as South Africa’s greatest winger, but that reputation should not be enough to keep him in the current side at the expense of potential match-winners like Aplon and Hougaard.
HABANA’S 39 TRIES
6 vs England
5 vs Australia
4 vs France
4 vs Samoa
3 vs Italy
3 vs New Zealand
3 vs Scotland
2 vs Argentina
2 vs Wales
2 vs USA
2 vs Uruguay
1 vs Ireland
1 vs Lions
1 vs Namibia
0 vs Fiji
0 vs Tonga
74 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
22 Sep 2011, 19:34 pm
@Chris4Lions(Chris4Lions)-49: I wouldnt say retire but maybe just take a year out and concentrate on club rugby for a while! See if the time out makes him rejuvinated. There is no excuse for him to be in the squad at the moment when better players wait in the bench at this level you cant keep somoeone playing on past glories you need to be ruthless and pick the best players for the job. The Habana of 2007 would have racked up 4 tries today easily!
22 Sep 2011, 20:46 pm
WezWP
Heheheheheheh
Wow, all I can say.
Wesley I hope your wife leaves you with blou ballas!!
22 Sep 2011, 22:08 pm
We can lose the world cup persisting with has-beens in the starting 15 like Smit, Habana, de Villiers, FdP, Spies and Matfield or we can use our best on form players in their place and give it a full go.
Francois Hougaard is so damn good. I’ll never forget the 2 great tries he scored against the Crusaders 2 years ago on the wing.
Can anyone see coach PdV making some brave decisions in the quarter-finals? He might be forced to, because the match against Samoa will be a bruising encounter and there are sure to be injuries.
22 Sep 2011, 23:01 pm
SA’s greatest winger? D.O. Williams (1930s) and then Carel du Plessis (1980s). Others in the reckoning –Gert Muller, Sid Nomis, Tom van Vollenhoven and Brian Habana.
22 Sep 2011, 23:08 pm
Oh, add in Ray Mordt to the other also-rans.
23 Sep 2011, 00:46 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-54:
How the hell do you know what DO Williams was like?
Lol dude you are so full of it
23 Sep 2011, 01:06 am
Marauding J @ 12
Love your work.
Agree 100′s.
Anyone baying for Hab’s head is mal.
23 Sep 2011, 01:07 am
@daydreamer(daydreamer)-53:
“We can lose the world cup persisting with has-beens in the starting 15 like Smit, Habana, de Villiers, FdP, Spies and Matfield or we can use our best on form players in their place and give it a full go.
Francois Hougaard is so damn good. I’ll never forget the 2 great tries he scored against the Crusaders 2 years ago on the wing.”
Come on Mr Daydreamer, go on ahead and give us the names of the “form players” who should replace the rest of the “has-beens.”
You couldn’t do that, could you? That’s why you stopped with Hougaardt? Another fool who can’t bear to see this Bok team having success at the RWC.
PATHETIC.
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-54:
Come on now Tackler. You are not THAT old to know people who played in the 30′s, or are you?
23 Sep 2011, 01:19 am
@Boksarenumber4(Boksarenumber1)-56:
His mom told him…
But back on topic, first off congrats to Habana for getting the record.
Second, congrats to JC for this bit of creative writing…Habana tossed the ball a mile into the air, pointed his finger to the sky and beamed that beatific smile.
I assume the keo package includes a trip to NZ but no tickets to the game or access to a TV…
Anyway, I read with some amusement that some still think Habana will be ‘back to his best…just wait’. So exactly how long do we have to wait? His form has been lacking for over two years now and for the life of me I can’t see why it would now suddenly change. Get with it, it is not going to happen, not now and probably never.
Bryan had one thing going for him and that was speed, once you get older and the speed goes you can never get it back, never! As for people singing the praises of his defence, what have you lot being watching? So he does the odd cross cover tackle but it by no means make up for the slipped first up tackles he missed or even worse, the massive barn door gaps he left ‘going for glory’ (read: intercept).
Nope, thanks for the memories Bryan but you should step aside now, your time is done.
23 Sep 2011, 02:09 am
Not good news for some people but they’ll just have to accept it.
Record holder for the most tries scored in a CC season?
Bjorn Basson (19)
Record holder for the most CC tries scored?
John Daniels (80+?)
Record holder for the most test tries scored?
Brian Habana (39)
23 Sep 2011, 02:39 am
Best Bok winger? Carel du Plessis.
Now to you Cardinelli. Be careful what you say. The WC is not over yet. Your reputation will be in sy moer in if Habana wins the game against Aus or NZ for us. How will you explain your way out of that one? Just wondering.
23 Sep 2011, 02:41 am
@daydreamer(daydreamer)-53:
“We can lose the world cup persisting with has-beens in the starting 15 like Smit, Habana, de Villiers, FdP, Spies and Matfield or we can use our best on form players in their place and give it a full go.”
Has-Beens?
23 Sep 2011, 02:42 am
@nama1(nama1)-60: Why is that not good news? Please tell.
23 Sep 2011, 03:27 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-55: also ran all around the ABs to score a hat trick while the ingredients of the world’s largest pizza were thrown at him from the skies.
23 Sep 2011, 07:13 am
@Blokkies(Blokkies)-57:
Cheers! Thanks!
23 Sep 2011, 08:17 am
Hougaard is 5 times the player Habana is … send Banana home!!
23 Sep 2011, 08:19 am
SA’s best wings ever :
Carel Dup
Ray Mordt
23 Sep 2011, 08:20 am
Ignore nama1 … for him rugby is about colour … the werfetter even talked up Rose, Lobberts & Dollie not to long ago!
23 Sep 2011, 08:28 am
Nama..short for numbnuts.
Habana unfortunately never quite perfected his weaving and as he’s got older the problem has gotten more noticeable. Apart from the nice lines he cut through The Sharks to score the winning try in the 2007 Super 14 final he has never done enough since to be regarded as a true winger.
His straight runs are a sight to behold but that’s one trick too many and has made him predictable.
Hougaard is fast overtaking Habana as the new fast kid in town, and he has the bob and weave to steal Habana’s thunder.
23 Sep 2011, 08:52 am
@nama1(nama1)-60:
@TheAgent(TheAgent)-63:
It’s not good news for some acording to him because they are all leftwingers and not wrightwingers.
23 Sep 2011, 08:53 am
@Mr Black(Mr Black)-70:
sorry, meant “rightwingers”
23 Sep 2011, 09:17 am
Congrat’s Brian Habana you’ve been a true gem in the world of wings. Not only the tries, but your work rate, ball seeking, tackles, etc, not easy when youre a wing in a Bok team that hardly spreads the ball.
23 Sep 2011, 13:22 pm
i eeeet the shickeeen!
24 Sep 2011, 00:39 am
@umbhoxoswede(umbhoxoswede)-72: I’m also a Habana fan, always have been. He is off form, that is a fact. Where you sit the pot mis is your statement that he isn’t scoring tries due to the Boks not spreading the ball. And at the Stormers? At the Bulls for 3 years? Please explain.
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.