Habana eyes Springbok record

If host nation New Zealand are feeling the heat, so too are defending Rugby World Cup champions South Africa, according to Springbok wing Bryan Habana.

After winning the Webb Ellis Cup in 2007, Habana says the weight of expectation from home fans is riding high again despite the Springboks, rated the third-best side in the world, finishing bottom in this season's Tri Nations.

"We had a send-off in South Africa where 65,000 people said goodbye to us," he said.

"When you get greeted by the President (Jacob Zuma) and he tells you to bring the cup back - he expects you to bring the cup back. The nation is saying, 'Good luck but don't come home empty-handed'."

But if anyone knows how to revel in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a Rugby World Cup, it is Habana.

In 2007, he played in all seven games as South Africa bulldozed their way to glory in France, contributing eight tries to equal All Black Jonah Lomu's record haul for a single Rugby World Cup.

High hopes

He has scored a record-equalling 38 tries for the Springboks and all going well he will go clear of the man he shares that honour with, former scrum half Joost Van Der Westhuizen.
He is hoping that accolade will come on 11 September, when the Springboks face Wales at Wellington Regional Stadium in their opening Pool D game.

"I'd like to hope so," he said. "I thought it would have happened a while ago. If I do get chosen to play, I would love to make a positive contribution to the start of our campaign."

If South Africa stick to their winning 2007 formula of keeping it tight and putting pressure on opposing teams through well-judged kicks, that will be just fine with Habana.

"I've been chasing a lot of kicks for a while now, so I don't think that's going to change a bit," he said.

Playing to their strengths

Those tactics have drawn criticism in some quarters, but Habana dismisses it out of hand.
Pinpoint kicking, tight defence and a solid forward platform, according to the winger, is "playing to their strengths".

"I definitely think we're going to play to our strengths, sticking to what has worked for us. We're not going to do anything drastically different to the last couple of years," he said.
With 18 players from South Africa's 2007 World Cup-winning squad returning for this tournament, that should not come as a surprise.