The Springboks might be out of the Rugby World Cup, but the quarter final against the Wallabies where they were knocked out won’t be forgotten in a hurry. It might be remembered for the performances of Bryce Lawrence and David Pocock, but nobody can take away the massive defensive effort from the Wallabies. Check out this tackle of Radike Samo on Bryan Habana:

Source: rugbydump.com

It has been confirmed that Bryan Habana will miss out (through injury) on the encounter with the Fijians on Saturday. While this spells at least some misfortune in terms of the experience South Africa will lack, it opens the door for new kid on the Bok-block, Francois Hougaard. Or so we thought… In an unprecedented move SA Rugby, not entirely unlike the Cape Salmon, has preferred to swim upstream – hence the coaches and management team has decided to opt against popular opinion and select Odwa Ndungane instead.

For the purposes of this article, this selection conundrum takes a back seat however. It does however play well into this blogger’s hands as it bears massive resemblance to the tricky path Hougaard has had to endure in his career. More on that a bit later though. No offence to Odwa, but let’s turn our attention to Bryan and Francois, shall we? The platform was firmly set for this pocket rocket (who replaced Habana in the opener against Wales and scored the magnificent, match-winning try) to make the step-up into the Springbok starting XV. Again, let me not digress and rather focus on the comparative analyses I have in mind.

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The DHL Stormers beat the Vodacom Bulls for first time in Super Rugby since 2003 at Loftus Fersfeld in Pretoria on Saturday. The Cape Town side won the contest 10 – 23.

They scored a try through Bryan Habana yesterday but what will satisfy them no end is that they came to Loftus and beat the Bulls at a game to which the Pretoria side is more accustomed.

Simply put, the Stormers won the arm-wrestle at close quarters, while it was their flyhalf Peter Grant who applied the finishing touches with the boot.

The persistent rain that drenched Gauteng in the 24 hours leading up to this contest did little to enhance this game as a spectacle, but that seemed to suit the Stormers, who took to the trenches with glee.

Habana, who had an absolute howler, rediscovered his scoring instinct momentarily to put the game beyond the Bulls inside the last 10 minutes.

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The return of Bryan Habana and Wicus Blaauw to the training camp of the Stormers should lift their spirits after the defeat to the Sharks over the weekend.

The Stormers defeat started in the scrums, where they were dominated by the Sharks front-row of Beast Mtawarira, John Smit and Jannie du Plessis, and the return of Blaauw after an absence of a month and a half should go a significant way towards recovering the destructive edge that has been missing from the set-piece since then.

Stormers coach Allister Coetzee did not say whether Blaauw would start against the Bulls, but he made it clear on Monday at a press gathering in Bellville that Blaauw would be involved in the final league match.

“Wicus is over his injury and he has been missed during his absence so we will definitely involve him in the match against the Bulls,” said Coetzee.

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Stormers winger Bryan Habana will not be fit for Saturday’s clash against the Sharks in Durban. This is a major blow for the Stormers in their quest to nail down a Super 14 home semi-final.

Habana suffered bruised ribs in the match against the Crusaders last week at Newlands and by Wednesday morning was still experiencing discomfort.

Centre Tim Whitehead, who replaced Habana on the left wing early in the second half at Newlands last week, has been given the nod to fill the boots of the speedy Springbok winger.

Joe Pietersen, the stand-out fullback in early Super 14 matches this season, makes a welcome return after a lay-off as a result of a hip injury.

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After the departure of JP Pietersen and Andries Bekker from the Springbok camp due to injury, came the news that Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw and Bryan Habana are also battling injuries.

The trio of Bulls stars are busy working with doctor Craig Roberts on their rehabilitation, with Botha carrying a knee injury, Habana having a groin niggle and Rossouw working on his conditioning following a mild hamstring strain he suffered before coming to Australia.

But with coach Peter de Villiers needing to find replacements for Pietersen and Bekker in the match-day 22 for Saturday’s test in Brisbane, there is some trepidation in the camp.

“The Bakkies injury is more of a worry than anything else, especially since Danie is fit but hasn’t played for a while. We haven’t used him a lot and we’ll have to see whether he can be an 80-minute player,” De Villiers said on Monday.

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Bryan Habana signed a two year deal with Western Province, allowing him to continue playing his rugby in South Africa until his contract then expires in 2011.

Bernie Habana, father of the Bok wing, confirmed on Sunday that Habana Jnr will be playing his domestic and Super Rugby in Cape Town for the next two years.

“Some details of the contract still has to be sorted out, but Bryan has decided that Cape Town is where it is at,” Habana Snr said, adding: “Those details will be sorted out in the next few days [before he departs with the Boks for Australasia on Tuesday].”

This follows less than a week after he arrived in Cape Town, last Monday, for ‘explorative talks’ with Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus.

Habana, winner of both the International Rugby Board and South African Rugby Union Player of the Year awards for 2007, also had an offer to stay with the Blue Bulls in Pretoria and had talks with the Bulls last Sunday.

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