South Africa’s Bryan Habana goes into today’s World Cup semi-final against New Zealand at Twickenham just one try short of breaking Jonah Lomu’s tournament record of 15.
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Habana, who as a fan watched New Zealand powerhouse Lomu rampage his way round rugby fields in South Africa at the 1995 World Cup, cannot get over being talked about in the same breath as the legend.
“For me, he is an inspiration. In 1995 for me in that World Cup to see a guy like Jonah Lomu demolish England, he went on to become a global superstar. I will never forget,” said Habana. “Records are always nice to achieve but the most important thing for me, throughout my career, has been making a contribution to my side.”
His coach, Heyneke Meyer, has no doubts he will deliver the goods again at Twickenham.
“Bryan is always someone that produces it at the big games and has played well for me,” said Meyer. “He’s a wonderful human being as well.”
Meanwhile, former South Africa captain Bobby Skinstad insists the Springboks’ only hope of winning tonight is by “out-smashing” the All Blacks.
Skinstad, who won 42 caps until his retirement after the 2007 World Cup triumph, believes that only by elevating their trademark power game to a new level can the Springboks prevail.
“Out-smashing the All Blacks is the only way we can beat the All Blacks. We can’t out-run them,” Skinstad said. “The only way we can win is by using traditional powerhouse South African rugby and the players will not need to be psyched up for that, they will be really excited about this game.
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“They’ll love the clash and will want to smash into the All Blacks. More than anything, they’ll just be pleased to have a chance to do that.
“We have to go really hard in the forwards for a long time before we can look to go wide. The All Blacks will go wide earlier than us. It’s going to be a massive clash. If The Springboks are on song they’ll be in with a shout.”
South Africa and New Zealand are two of rugby’s greatest rivals and Springbok skipper Fourie du Preez said it was evident when the World Cup draw was made that they would likely meet in the semifinals.
Scrum-half du Preez, capped 75 times and flanker Burger, a veteran of 84 internationals, were playing for Suntory in Japan last November when they first sat down to plan how to beat the All Blacks.
“It’s a massive, massive game if not the biggest game of my life and Schalk’s and we’ve been around quite a bit,” du Preez said at Twickenham on Friday.
“Myself and Schalk were in Japan together, from the end of November and we were talking about this game after training, so we’ve been looking forward to it for quite some time.”
