Habana shrugs off personal achievements

PARIS: South Africa's try-scoring machine Bryan Habana said his personal achievements at the World Cup would be meaningless if the Springboks did not win Saturday's final against England (1900 GMT).

Habana scored twice in his team's 37-13 semifinal win over Argentina on Sunday to equal Jonah Lomu's World Cup try-scoring record of eight tries in a single tournament.

Habana, who also scored four times against Samoa and twice against the United States in the pool stage, has the chance to beat Lomu's record in the final but said his only concern was winning the match.

"The tournament's not about any one individual, it's about everyone making a contribution," he told reporters.

"It's great to equal the record, I'm really chuffed but at the end of the day it won't mean anything if we don't win next week."

Habana, one of five nominations for the IRB player of the year, demonstrated why he is regarded as the deadliest finisher in world rugby with two moments of brilliance against the Pumas.

The speedster scored a 60-meter try in the first half when he chipped the ball over Lucas Borges then followed up with an 80-meter intercept just before fulltime.

Despite Habana's reluctance to take credit for his performances, his team mates were quick to pay tribute to his contribution.

"We could do with him in the final, we need him to score one or two tries. He will say he's not interested in breaking records," said lock Victor Matfield.

Fullback Percy Montgomery, who kicked seven goals in as many attempts to finish with a personal haul of 17 points, said Habana deserved to break Lomu's record.

"Good luck to him. He deserves it. He works hard off the ball. It's a great achievement if he does it," said Montgomery, the tournament's leading points scorer.

South Africa will go into the final as overwhelming favorites to win the Webb Ellis Cup for a second time after thumping England 36-0 in the pool stage.

But Habana said the Springboks were not taking anything for granted.

"There's something really special about this team at the moment but we've still got one more hurdle left for our goal," he said.

"England have improved a lot in the last two matches so what happened five weeks ago will have no bearing at all.

"Jonny (Wilkinson) has come back so it's a totally different ball game.

"It's a win-all or lose-all situation next week. We are very proud of the country to have come this far but we want to go all the way."

Agencies

(China Daily 10/16/2007 page23)