Habana calls time on career

SA Rugby president Mark Alexander yesterday paid tribute to record-breaking Springbok wing Bryan Habana (above), who announced his retirement from the game at the end of the European season, is “one of the greatest South African sportsmen of all time”.

The 34-year-old Habana, the second-most-capped Springbok of all time with 124 Test caps, announced he would hang up his boots later this year.

Habana, a Rugby World Cup winner in 2007, made his Test debut against England at Twickenham in November 2004, when he scored the first of his 67 Test tries – the most ever by a Springbok.

He amassed 118 Super Rugby caps and scored 56 tries at this level in the colours of the Bulls and Stormers. He also participated in four tournaments for the Springbok Sevens team in 2004 and 2016.

“The inevitable moment has come knocking on my door and I’ve welcomed it in for a drink,” Habana said, who has been with French club Toulon since 2013.

“It’s been more than a year of hoping, trying, pushing and willing to get back on the field for one last time, to taste the sweet victory or encounter that gut-wrenching despair.

“To hear the roar of the crowd or grab the ball out of the air. To make that last bone crunching tackle or score that last match-winning try.

“But it’s unfortunately just not to be. I, like most, would have liked my career to have ended differently, but sometimes things don’t turn out the way we hope.”

Apart from the Rugby World Cup, Habana also tasted success in the Rugby Championship (previously named the Tri-Nations), Super Rugby and the Currie Cup.

He is the only player since rugby unity in 1992 who has won the SA Rugby Player-of-the-Year Award three times – in 2005, 2007 and 2012. – Own Correspondent