Clean slate as Boks hit the big time
HAVING avoided the humiliation of drowning in Pool B and making it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, Bryan Habana has urged his teammates to embrace the “quest for glory” and a proud new chapter of Springbok history.
Habana, a veteran of 114 Tests and the scorer of a record 64 tries for his country, said the team had the ingredients to go all the way, having done some street-fighting to redress the damage done by Japan in round one.
Now the negative pressure of the pool games had to be turned into excitement about what could now be achieved.
“We have to fully understand what knock-out rugby is about. There is a very cold reality that if you lose, you have to leave the country within 24 hours – it is as simple as that,” the 32-year-old said of the tournament rules.
That was the case in 2011 when the Boks were on the next flight out of New Zealand after losing to Australia, which infamously coincided with a plane arriving from Sydney packed with South African supporters holding tickets to the semi-finals.
It just wasn’t meant to be, but now there’s this year.
“I am as excited about this World Cup as I was in 2007, when we won it, but for different reasons,” Habana said.
“In 2007 we had a fantastic core of seniors who played all the way through from 2004, and the tournament just opened up for us... apart from the odd scare (provided by Tonga in a Pool match and Fiji in the quarter-final), the title always seemed in reach.
“This year has been stopstart, there have been defeats and injuries, and then at the tournament itself, we have had no picnic,” Habana said.
Now there are eight teams left, all on equal footing.
“The slate has been wiped clean and there are eight teams in the starting blocks.
“We have just as much chance of winning the cup as the other seven. We can make history if we see what a wonderful opportunity we have, and get really excited about it,” Habana said.
“The negative of a month ago in Brighton has now become a golden opportunity. All eight teams are on level pegging.”
But now the stakes are even higher and the Springboks must act accordingly.
“Every single player, every combination has to show a percentage improvement. That is how it works as you advance through knock-out rugby,” he said.
High stakes
“If you don’t show that little more intensity and urgency in everything you do, you fall by the wayside, because you can be sure the other team will be pulling out all the stops.”
Habana agreed that their 12-6 loss to Wales in Cardiff last year had some relevance, although the Dragons were facing an under-strength Bok team without Habana, Francois Louw, JP Pietersen, Schalk Burger and Johan Goosen, not to mention injury to captain Jean de Villiers.
“We can learn a lot about Wales from that game, as we can from their tour to South Africa earlier in the year.
“Wales have always been a tough opponent and we were eight minutes from losing to them in Nelspruit. We respect them and know they don’t go away for 85 minutes,” he said.
“The way they played against Australia last week showed that they are very serious about winning this tournament and are not here to make up the numbers.”