Bryan Habana
Cape Town — Springbok wing Bryan Habana will become the Rugby World Cup’s highest try-scorer if he crosses the whitewash in today’s quarter-final against Wales at Twickenham.
Habana is currently the joint record holder for most career tries (15) in RWC tournaments. Jonah Lomu of New Zealand is the other player with 15 career tries.
Habana will also extend his record as the most-capped Springbok wing, with 113 caps in this position. He is the most experienced Springbok backline player with 114 caps and only Victor Matfield (125) has played in more Test matches for South Africa.
If he scores a try against Wales, Habana will extend his own record of 64 Test tries for South Africa. He is currently joint-second on the list for most Test tries. David Campese of Australia is the other player. First on the list is Daisuke Ohata of Japan on 69 career tries.
Habana is also the new world record holder for most Test tries as a wing. He surpassed the previous record, held by Ohata (62), during last Wednesday’s match against the USA.
Meanwhile, key players David Pocock and Israel Folau handed Australia a double blow yesterday as both failed to prove their fitness and will miss the World Cup quarter-final with Scotland tomorrow.
Pocock, whose conversion to No 8 from flanker has been a roaring success, has been struggling with a calf injury suffered during the 15-6 Pool A victory over Wales last Saturday.
Fullback Folau struggled through the Wales game with a painful ankle, a knock he had picked up in the 33-13 whipping of hosts England a fortnight ago, and sees him miss his first Test for the Wallabies since he made his debut in 2013.
Both Pocock and Folau had not trained all week – they had just done some running on Thursday and coach Michael Cheika had delayed naming his team yesterday morning to see how they went in another running session pre-training.
Pocock has been replaced by Ben McCalman with Kurtley Beale coming in at fullback for Folau.
In other changes from the Wales starting line-up, lock Rob Simmons replaces Dean Mumm, who was sent to the sin bin in the Welsh match along with Will Genia, leaving their side two men down, and flanker Michael Hooper returns after serving a one week ban.
Sean McMahon drops to the bench after ably standing in for Hooper.
Tomorrow’s game will also be a landmark for centre Matt Giteau and captain Stephen Moore as both reach the century mark in terms of Test caps, taking the total to eight Wallabies who have achieved that feat.
Adam Ashley-Cooper, who will become the third most capped Wallaby tomorrow with 112, said he could recall the moment he became a centurion.
“It’s a special achievement, it really is,” he told reporters early yesterday. — News24.
“I remember my 100th, it was a special week and the guys got around me and made it a memorable one. But we didn’t get the result and that’s something I can’t get back.
“Early in the week, Michael asked the boys to stand up and asked them how they were going to approach the week, and both said how proud they were to represent their country for a 100th time, but they were more interested in team success.
“Both have experienced individual success and team success and they know which one feels better. And that was a really good message for the team.”
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (captain), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.
Wales:
15 Gareth Anscombe, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Substitutes: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Tom Francis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 James Hook