Habana chasing team gold
On target: Bryan Habana
Bryan Habana, the South African player with the best try-scoring strike rate, has once again dismissed talk of his individual achievements ahead of the World Cup Final against England in Paris on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Springbok flyer, who has equalled Jonah Lomu’s World Cup record with his two-try effort in the Boks’ 37-13 semi-final victory over Argentina at the weekend, said his only real goal is for the team to win gold in the Final against England.
Habana, who has now scored 30 tries in his 34 Bok appearances since his try-scoring Test debut against England at Twickenham in November 2004, has achieved a number of landmarks at the World Cup in France.
He is the leading try-scorer at the current tournament with eight tries in six matches, which also equals the record eight tries scored by Lomu at the 1999 World Cup.
It also made Habana South Africa’s leading try scorer in all World Cup tournaments, beating the previous record (seven) of Jaque Fourie.
And his strike rate - 30 tries in 34 internationals - is now an astonishing 88.2 per cent - beating the mark previously held by legendary Bok centre Danie Gerber (79.2 percent, with 19 tries in 24 Tests).
If taken into consideration that another Bok legend from the 1980s, wing Ray Mordt, is in third place with just 66.7 per cent (12 tries from 18 matches), Habana’s achievement is all that more remarkable.
However, he would gladly give up all these records for the winner’s medal in the Final on Saturday.
“The tournament’s not about any one individual, it’s about everyone making a contribution,” he told reporters.
“It’s great to equal the record [of Lomu], I’m really chuffed, but at the end of the day it won’t mean anything if we don’t win [in the Final].”
Habana’s try-scoring feats and all-round performances this year have earned him a nomination as one of five finalists for the International Rugby Board (IRB) Player of the Year award.
The speedster scored a 60m try in the first half when he chipped the ball over Lucas Borges then followed up with an 80m intercept just before full-time.
While the Boks are rated outright favourites by the bookmakers to beat defending champions England in Saturday’s Final, Habana said the Springboks were not taking anything for granted - despite their 36-0 whitewash win over the English in the pool stages.
“There’s something really special about this team at the moment, but we’ve still got one more hurdle left for our goal,” he said.
“England have improved a lot in the last two matches [victories over Australia in the quarter-final and France in the semi-final] so what happened five weeks ago will have no bearing at all.
“Jonny [Wilkinson] has come back so it’s a totally different ball game.
“It’s a win-all or lose-all situation next week. We are very proud of the country to have come this far but we want to go all the way.”
Source: planet-rugby.com
