When the Stormers hung on to record a 19-24 victory against the Lions at Ellis Park 2 weeks ago, Bryan Habana became the only South African player to score 50 Super Rugby tries with his classy try. His milestone only received a few passing mentions.
There are five men ahead of him on the all-time list – Doug Howlett, Caleb Ralph, Joe Roff, Christian Cullen and Stirling Mortlock. Those are some great names. Bryan Habana being 28 years old and the only active player with 50 or more tries it is looking like he should ultimately eclipse the current record of 59 tries held by former Blues try machine, Doug Howlett.
The next closest South African player is Jaque Fourie with 37 tries from 98 games. Habana got his 50th try in 94 matches.
His feat comes at a good time for the player who seems to have been having a difficult time over the last 2 years. Fans and critics alike expect him to emulate the heroics of 2005, where he won South African player of the year and 2007, South African and World player of the year, whenever he steps onto the turf. It’s become the case of when he scores, it’s expected and when he doesn’t, he’s a failure.
Stormers captain Jean de Villiers said about Habana: “You don’t score that many tries unless you are a special player and unless you have been remarkably consistent over a number of years, some of the recent criticism of Bryan’s game is due to high expectations. He hit the scene with such force that it would be impossible to keep scoring at such a rate for his entire career. Defences worked him out and he no longer has the element of surprise, yet he still scores tries.”
With the Stormers having 11 games of Super Rugby still to play and potential play-offs and finals, Howlett’s record does not seem that far off. Whether or not Habana does break the record this season, I think we should all ‘Give that man a Bells’.
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And a Bells for the author too! Nicely done!
@Culling Song (Comment 1) : Indeed
Well done all round.
How many of those tries were for the Bulls?
@Salmonoid (Comment 3) : I’d be keen to see a tries per season stat from his debut year.
Thanks Guys. Will try get the stats over the weekend,
Well done Habs! How many test tries does he have?
@Ben (Comment 6) : 40
@Ben (Comment 6) : Just to show you how ineffective he was under PdV.
30 of those tries were scored from 2004 to 2007. The other 10 were scored from 2008 to 2011. The time between try 38 and 39 was 15 months.
@lostfish (Comment 7) : @lostfish (Comment 8) : Thanks, he should be able to reach 50 test tries.
@lostfish (Comment 8) : Interesting!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 4) :
2004 – 3 tries, 3 tests
2005 – 12 tries, 12 tests
2006 – 2 tries, 10 tests
2007 – 13 tries, 11 tests
2008 – 2 tries, 10 tests
2009 – 4 tries, 11 tests
2010 – 2 tries, 11 tests
2011 – 2 tries, 6 tests
@Ben (Comment 9) : We will have to wait and see, he needs to start scoring again because he was basically in a 4 year slump.
@lostfish (Comment 12) : He’s 28 now and should stick around for at least 3 more years or he might want to stick around until World Cup 2015. Should be more than enough time for him to get 10 more. That’s if he isn’t too much.
@Ben (Comment 13) : Sorry, meant to say. “That’s if he isn’t injured too much.”
Well done Habs! A superb achievement.
Nice article Scott – I would have missed this if not for you.
@lostfish (Comment 11) : Thanks. I’m looking for the breakdown of the 50 he scored in Superrugby though. 😉
@KSA Shark © (Comment 16) : meh my bad, maybe if I find some spare time 😉
@KSA Shark © (Comment 16) :
2005 – 9 tries
2006 – 7 tries
2007 – 8 tries
2008 – 5 tries
2009 – 8 tries
2010 – 7 tries
2011 – 4 tries
2012 – 2 tries so far
@lostfish (Comment 18) : Thanks that’s great. 🙂
That’s actually rather interesting. He hasn’t really had a slump in scoring ability except for last season.
From the perception I have of his form, I expected a much more visible drop off in tries scored in the last 3-4 years.
Well done Habana and good luck with breaking those records.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 19) : That is why my opinion of it is the game plan and coaching in the Bok setup. It seems if he gets enough ball he can do something with it. He had a Bok scoring slump 😉