The Springbok management aren’t concerned about the apparent slump in form of winger Bryan Habana during this year’s Vodacom Tri Nations tournament.
By Brenden Nel
The former IRB Player of the year, who was a sensation at the 2007 World Cup, has struggled with his form all season, but probably has never experienced the nightmare run he had on his old stomping ground at Loftus Versfeld last week where he gifted the Wallabies a try, and was caught in defence for a second.
There have been calls for the winger to be dropped, but coach Peter de Villiers and his support staff have backed Habana, believing that class trumps form every time and they know that sooner or later one of the world’s deadliest finishers is sure to strike form again.
Bok backline coach Dick Muir was the first to Habana’s defence on Thursday, following up De Villiers defence after the Loftus game that Habana had played too much rugby, with his own explanation.
“I think you find that all great players go through spells where they lose a little bit of form,” Muir told journalists at the team’s training base at the University of the Free State.
“Bryan has set the bar high by his standards and he has been working hard to get back to his best. Hopefully that will happen very soon and hopefully that happens this weekend. He is one of those dedicated players and we are certainly not worried about him getting his form back.”
The Bok winger has looked the shadow of his normal self this year, but has still moved around the field a lot to ensure his workrate hasn’t diminished. There is even a theory that Habana is struggling because he sits one try away from breaking Joost van der Westhuizen’s Bok try scoring record. Both players are on 38 and it is just coincidence that Habana’s form started to waver when he moved up alongside the former Bok halfback.
Muir isn’t one to subscribe to such theories though, and believes it is just a matter of time before Habana crossed the chalk again.
“He’s bigger than the record,” Muir said, “He is there for the team and only if the opportunity presents itself will he go for the try. What I’m really pleased about is that he comes off his wing and is looking for work elsewhere and he will get the reward for that.
“You make one glaring mistake and everybody jumps on the bandwagon but the standard is high that has been set and he will certainly want to rectify that. We’re in the business where we do get criticized and we need to be bigger than that. The only way to rectify it is to get the performance on the field.”
Habana is currently being challenged by his Western Province and Stormers team-mate Gio Aplon, who has excelled since being called up to the national squad. The competition may well be the best thing to spur him on to his former glory.
Which is something both the winger and the Boks need at the moment.
Saddly the form stays bad , very bad. He last scored a try against Italy that is 6 games ago. Maybe he concentrated to much on the Joost record. Even then it is bloody stupid.
Boots and All now on, lets hear what they have up their sleeves.
I don’t suppose the Wallabies are very worried either!
I predict (well hope) he is going to have his best game of the season.
Why?
Because any class player can only take so much criticism and then will want to prove his critics wrong.
Here’s to hopinh, cheers
@ biltongbek:
The problem is that sometimes, the harder you try, the more anxious you become, and the more errors creep in.
We all know that Habana has not become a kuk player so maybe he needs a spell back at a slightly lower level to regain that sharpness that seems to have deserted him.
Many factors can lead to diminished performance, and they don’t necessarily need to be Rugby related.
Who knows?
@ Scrumdown:
I agree with you that he should go play at the Currie Cup level, just to have a little more space and time to get al things in perspective, but seeing that he is playing this weekend, I expect him to stand up as he realises he has dissappointed not only the supporters but also himself.
These intercepts he keeps going for is driving me mad. He should be coached better.
@ Snoek:
I often wonder whether these intercepts he keeps going for isn’t due to his frustration of never getting the ball, perhaps if our centers do provide him with some quality ball, he may not be so desperate to break the defensive line for the intercepts.
5@ Scrumdown:
I agree, it’s now become a mental block and obsession with Habana.
For all we know he might be in the physical form of his life at the moment, but this mental block makes him do some strange things on the pitch…. and the viscious circle just gets bigger and bigger.
He needs to be dropped at the Bokke… and told he is being dropped, not rested.
Then he needs to re-build play and confidence from Currie Cup level… and only once he clearly consistently shows he’s the leading Currie Cup / Super 15 left wing, should he be selected again.
If he does regain form, good… if not the able replacements would have had proper opportunity to settle into the Bokke left wing position.
9@ grootblousmile:
Once again though it calls into question the thinking of the Bok Management in this regard?
Are they hoping he’ll play himself back into form at the highest level?
Do they consider the potential replacements to be inferior to him IN HIS CURRENT FORM?
Do they consider the Mandela Trophy too important to give “new blood” an opportunity to show their worth or are they trying to get the squad to “gel” at this late stage in the 3N?
All in all we (as supporters) seem to have more questions than those who claim to be more intelligent than us in these matters are willing to give us answers for.
Agree, Habana is one of the worlds best wings if not the best BUT he is so out of form and have no confidence at the moment.. Think a bit of currie cup rugby will do him a world of good but think another bad test might just start the mind games… hope he has a gr8 test on saturday….
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