His late career resurgence capped by his game on Saturday is surely making a strong case. Combination of speed, strength, ability to catch a kicked ball in the air and even his ability to win a ball on the ground is excellent
jP is good as well. We need to get them both into the game more. Habana should have got 2 tries were it not for the bulls fullback that cant pass
The sad fact is that Habana never had a slump. He was one of the scapegoats to explain away Peter dom Failure's poor coaching. Under Peter none of our wings could make an impression, though Habana consistently outshone the rest. Of any wing I have ever seen, he is the most complete. I recall in 2010 his incredible burst skinning 8 All Blacks in heavy traffic. He has strength, speed, acceleration, good hands, good step when he shows it, strong under the high ball, solid boot and exceptional work rate. His defence is rock solid.
And Sharkbok, Kirchner made no mistakes during that game. Habana was flat, perhaps too flat. There is no way Kirchner could have passed that further ahead without conceding a forward pass. Habana just couldn't handle the ball, had he been a fraction later in his run he would have nabbed it right on the line. But you are deeply anti-Bull, so you have no judgement on the matter.
He had a few defensive lapses in 2010 that saw him booed by the South African supporters in subsequent matches. Anyone remember this?? Very sad to watch as I believe he is a colossus of the game. He has paid his dues with interest and still delivers the goods. One of the best wingers ever period!
Agree - always seems to show up to every game with a measure of aggression and an edge that is lacking in this era of professional sports where it seems players sometimes are going through the motions, trying not to get hurt and earn the next paycheck
Spies, Beast and some others in the Bok setup who have lost that edge they had when they first arrived would do well to take notice and up their game.
That is another myth. The entire defensive system was flawed. In fact, it was so bad in 2010 that I couldn't quite understand what the plan was on defence. It allowed New Zealand to very easily create overlaps and mismatches. And of course, it's the reason why we were the only side Australia could breakdown on attack. He is a player that has survived the ignorant Saffer bashing.
"He had a few defensive lapses in 2010 that saw him booed by the South African supporters in subsequent matches. Anyone remember this?? Very sad to watch as I believe he is a colossus of the game. He has paid his dues with interest and still delivers the goods. One of the best wingers ever period! "
well said..
True, they were great wingers, but what tips the scale for me is the fact that Habana plays in an era where defences are much, much tougher. The backlines of the 80s wouldn't put so much as a dent in the current Bok defence. Similar thing with Lomu, he was useful up until defences got better, then he fell away. He started playing wing at a time when defences couldn't handle that kind of player in that position. So I give Habana the nod ahead of all of them.
defence system were different correct but the bok playing pattern was also different so they tends to favour the outside backs more if they get the ball in space more. habana really got the ball in space in the RWC and we all saw what he did with it.
lomu just had the edge because he was just big and he players were not up to standard condition wise. with player nou benching almost 140 to 180 kgs for backline players i doubt lomu would have the same level of impact
i agree on all you points cat
habana is good but JPP is better!
My dad reckins Ray Mort was the best Bok wing ever. Dont know if any old timers here who saw him play.
Go a bit back in history - and think about Jannie Engelbrecht - the most hated person in Bulls country since he played for WP and for the Springboks. He was so good that people in New Zealand named children after him. However, that was a very long time ago in the early 1960's. Ask Mozart about him - he would know. Then there also was Carel Du Plessis - the best wing i ever had the privilege to see playing.
Whether Habana and Pietersen is the best after 1992 - most likely yes it certainly is between the two of them..
Just for the record.
Maantjies Roux was a center for the Northern Transvaal team and the Springboks.
Yes, Habana has delivered and is a great wing....but so were many before him.
Tom von Vollenhoven was one that also impressed all.
The prince of wings"Carel Duplessis"- was apparently also a good player. I have seen a bit of footage of him, one Boots and All I think. Not sure what his coaching ability was like though as he got fired quickly. Either Mallet was a good coach or just inherited the work from Carel Duplessis, one cant ever be sure. Perhaos Mallet was just another pdv. He kept the same group of players for ages, and then they all retired around the same time leaving a massive rebuilding process. This what when we had Straueli as the coach and for a short time the racist Mcgraaf.
Sharkbok
Guess what - I would definitelybring Du Plessis in as backline coach to replace the present dummy. Du Plessis was made coach by Luyt after howles of protest by certain newspapers and never given a proper chance. he insisted that the Springboks were not scoring enough tries - hence their atrocious record. He also receive a team of dountful ability and started building a team. It took some time - exactly three months. The best backline performances of the Springbok backline I ever saw were in the second test against the British Lions - we scored three tries (none converted by Honeybal) and the latter also missed some penalties thus resulting in a loss by 18-15 to the Lions - followed by a record win against the Lions (35-12) in the third test (with backline play the key) and a record 62-22 win against the Wallabies - again with really sparkling backline play.
The issue here is that Du Plessis realized that attacking backline play is the future and he tried to perfect it - Mallett inherited the idea - but not the capacity to implement and the backline play declined - especially after he had to start replacing players from the Du Plessis squad. Since then the whole idea became a disaster that we have today.
Yes - I would replace Laubscher with Du Plessis and give him some freedom to get the situation right.
Incidentally - Engelbrecht, Van Vollenhoven and Du Plessis had one thing in common - they all bexcame known as the Prince of Wings in their respective eras.
