South Africa 87 Namibia 0:BRYAN HABANA finally became South Africa's leading all-time try scorer yesterday but he will not be celebrating the milestone at the World Cup if coach Peter De Villiers has anything to do with it.
The Springbok winger broke his 15-month Test scoring drought by sprinting 40 metres to score his 39th try in the 22nd minute of the 87-0 hammering of Namibia to edge ahead of former scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen.
“I think other people were more worried about it than I was,” said the 28-year-old, the leading scorer at the last World Cup. “I’ve said it my whole career: it’s always been about the Springbok team.
“It’s been great, a great honour and privilege to break records and pass someone like Joost. Hopefully, I can keep using my God-given talent to contribute to Springbok rugby.”
De Villiers, who was delighted with his team’s performance after a shaky start, gave short shrift to the record, however. “These things don’t matter to the team,” he said.
He was equally emphatic when rebutting the charge that the Springboks, who ran in 12 tries, had wasted several chances.
“We played a brilliant game once we regrouped . . . If we had played another team we would have done things differently.”
De Villiers said it would be 24 hours before there was any news about the severity of the injury to lock Bakkies Botha, who limped off after hurting his ankle nine minutes into the second half.
SOUTH AFRICA: Lambie; Aplon, Fourie, F Steyn, Habana; M Steyn, Hougaard; Steenkamp, Smit, van der Linde; Botha, Rossouw; Alberts, Burger, Spies. Replacements: Ralepelle for van der Linde, Louw for Botha (both 50 mins), de Jongh for F Steyn, Pienaar for M Steyn, Mtawarira for Steenkamp (all mins 62), Brussow for Spies (79 mins).
NAMIBIA: Botha; Dames, D van Wyk, van Zyl, Bock; Kotze, Jantjies; Redelinghuys, O'Callaghan, Visser; Koll, Esterhuyse; Du Plessis, Burger, Nieuwenhuis. Replacements: du Toit for Visser (40 mins), Horn for O'Callaghan (43 mins), Marais for Bock (46 mins), van Lill for Koll (54 mins), Kitshoff for Nieuwenhuis (55 mins), R de la Harpe for Jantjies, D de la Harpe for Dames (both 69 mins).
Referee: G Clancy(IRFU).
