Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Bye-bye Bekker, Bryan – love to have you back
Giant lock just had to give his creaking body a break
TWO of the finest players to have worn the Stormers jersey will be saying goodbye to Cape rugby in markedly contrasting ways when the Bulls visit tonight, but rugby fans should hold back their tears for Newlands may not be seeing the last of Bryan Habana and Andries Bekker .
While Habana, the IRB Player of the Year in 2007 who is heading for French club Toulon, will be bowing out wearing the Stormers jersey under the bright lights, the most capped player in the history of the franchise, Andries Bekker, will be watching what should have been his final game from the shadows.
There hasn’t been much reference to the lanky Bekker this week.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee did mention him at the start of the build-up week, when he said the Springbok would probably have been ready to play in the play-offs had the Stormers got that far.
But the Stormers didn’t get that far, Bekker remains sidelined, as he has been since the match against the Rebels in May, and a 105-game stint with the Stormers will come to an end ahead of his departure for Japan without fanfare and with no fairytale ending.
Unlike Habana, he wasn’t even part of the WP team that broke an 11-year drought in the Currie Cup last year. So who says rugby isn’t a cruel sport?
Bekker, who at times has threatened to re-define how a lock plays the game, heads to Japan after this and the Cape rugby’s most loyal servant – he has outstripped both Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers in Stormers caps – will be missed as much as Habana will.
In his pomp his governance of the lineout battle was surpassed by only one man, Victor Matfield, and in the absence of big outside backs, the Cape team owed many of their finer attacking moments to Bekker’s presence.
Like his father Hennie two to three decades earlier, the enduring image that Bekker will leave us with is of him propelling his more than twometre frame over the tryline.
It will endure even longer than the recall of him soaring for lineout ball, or propelling himself upwards to beat his opponents in the battle for possession at the re- starts, although his contributions in those departments have been no less valuable.
But hopefully both players will be back at Newlands, and in Habana’s case, quite soon.
The wing was honest enough in his outgoing press conference to admit that he hasn’t always this season been at the level he would want to be.
Habana has remained the same consummate professional and selfless team man, through both the good and the bad times.
His teammates, as do his coaches, vouch for his unwavering work ethic, and unflagging commitment to the team cause. It has rubbed off on those around him, and it will be part of the legacy he leaves.
But if he brushed aside his ever-present humility just for a moment, he would also surely acknowledge that the recent Test matches against Italy, Scotland and Samoa confirmed that what most critics at one stage thought was gone forever is most emphatically still there.
There were times when his pace was questioned in 2010 and 2011, but over the past two seasons he has comprehensively swept those doubts aside.
Five tries across his last two international appearances at Loftus, against Samoa a few weeks ago and Australia last year, are ample proof that he is still good enough for the Springboks.
He retains the class that has made him the top Springbok try-scorer of all-time.
And that is why today shouldn’t be his last experience of the stadium that has been his home ground for the last four years.
The Boks host the Wallabies there in a Rugby Champi- onship match in September, and while he accepts that his move to the French club will make it harder for him to keep his No 11 jersey, he fully intends to do so.
“Heyneke (Meyer) has been honest with us by letting us know that he does have a responsibility to keep South African rugby strong,” said Habana.
“So there are no expectations, and like every other player who has opted to go overseas, I accept that my decision may make it harder for me to retain my spot as the first choice in my position.
“That was something I reconciled myself to when I made the decision to go overseas.
“But at the same time I am proudly South African and love playing for the Spring- boks, and it remains my focus to try and play international rugby in the jersey that I love wearing. That hasn’t changed, and I made sure during the negotiations with Toulon that I would still be available to play for the Boks.
“I am flying to France next Saturday to play in the warmup game against Racing Metro (on August 2), but I will be in no different a position to the one of the guys playing Super Rugby play-off games over the next few weeks.
“I will be putting my body on the line for my team but hoping that I will be playing for the Springboks after that.”
Bekker will also be putting his body on the line in Japan.
But he will see action on average only every two weeks in a far less physical and demanding environment than what is experienced in Super Rugby, and that is what has directed his decision.
“It’s a way of ensuring that I can prolong my career,” said Bekker in March.
He suffers from a chronic back complaint that makes him a walking time-bomb, and carrying on playing Super Rugby would have risked an early end to his career.
If his body holds up, and he sees a gap to fill in the World Cup squad, Bekker may well be back playing for the Stormers in the 2015 season.
Bekker certainly hasn’t ruled that out and in his mind his Bok career is on hold, not necessarily ended. Hopefully that proves the case and he returns to experience a farewell befitting a legend of Cape rugby.