Bryan Habana
World Cup-winning Springbok Bryan Habana is enjoying his stay in Toulon so much, he might extend it.
The 31-year-old, Player of the Year after equalling the record set for most tries in a World Cup, said discussions are underway to extend his contract the French and European champions when it expires in 2016.
His arrival in the south of France was marked by a groin injury that sidelined him for most of his first season.
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Habana, South Africa’s most capped wing with 106 Tests, recovered in time for the end of the season – helping Toulon to a domestic and European double.
He has enjoyed an injury-free run since he returned from duty with the Springboks in November, where he scored his 57th Test try against Italy in Padua.
“I am happy in Toulon, everything is going very well,” he said, when asked about the discussions to extend his stay at the club based in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
“When you see the new guys coming in, you can see the desire of Bernard Laporte and Mourad Boudjellal to create a strong team over the long-term.
“If we can keep winning titles for a little while, that’s fine by me!”
Asked about his conditioning and general well-being, Habana said he was happy to finally be “injury free” and being able play a string of successive games.
“I feel good about my rugby and my body is responding well,” Habana said.
“I’m happy to have avoided injuries, it’s been a while since I’ve felt this good.
“I even played at centre against Stade Français and that went well for me.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well. I want to keep contributing to the success of Toulon.”
He admitted that with Toulon coming off two straight defeats – 12-16 to Montpellier Hérault this past weekend and 6-30 to Stade Français on December 28 – the pressure is on the defending French and European champions.
“It is not ideal to suffer two successive defeats,” he said, adding: “Like everyone else, we do not like losing.
” In Paris, we played bad and we did not put the necessary effort in – especially in terms of physicality.
“In Montpellier our intensity and commitment were much better.
“We are still very disappointed, but there were improvement.”
“We have four very important games coming up, ahead of the break for the start of the Six Nations competition,” he said of the encounters with Racing Métro (Top 14, this coming weekend), Ulster and Scarlets (both in the final league matches of the European Champions Cup), before returning to Top 14 action where they meet Aviron Bayonnais.
He said that last year, on their way to a European and French double, they also had a bad mid-season hiccup.
“Defeats happen in sport and it helped us to build character. We learn enormously in defeats.
“I hope it will be the same this season.
“We must focus on our game and above all be a lot more disciplined.”