Habana wants a break

Springbok wing Bryan Habana believes he needs a break from rugby to recapture the form that made him the best wing in the world four years ago.

Craig Ray, The Times

The 27-year-old has had a poor season and has recently been a shadow of a player who terrorised defences with his pace and ability to score tries.

Habana was booed in Bloemfontein last week during the Springboks’ 41-39 defeat by the Wallabies.

The 2007 world player of the year is one of 20 players who have been withdrawn from the Currie Cup and put on a conditioning programme for next year’s World Cup.

The move has led to a spat between the SA Rugby Union and the SA Rugby Players’ Association. The players’ association said its members were unhappy.

“Resting during the Currie Cup is an individual decision,” Habana told a Cape Town radio station. “But if we go back to 2006, when we had a similar conditioning programme before the 2007 World Cup, it reaped rewards.

“A lot of players are playing an immense amount of rugby these days and getting a break physically, and mentally as well, is vitally important heading into a massive year for Bok rugby.

“I haven’t had a break for a number of years, so having a clean break to refresh my mind and body might be good for me. But I’d also love to don the WP jersey sooner rather than later, and experience wearing the blue and white hoops in front of a packed Newlands.

“It’s a Catch 22 situation, but you have to look at the end-goal and I guess the World Cup is more important than the Currie Cup.”

The chief executive of the players’ association, Piet Heymans, said no player was consulted, and neither was the association.

“Our members are unhappy because they were told at the beginning of the year that their conditioning and rest programmes would be individually monitored,” he said.

The union said managing the players had been done on an individual basis to “lighten the workload of players”.

The union announced on July 2 that contracted Springboks would be rested for a month after the Tri-Nations. There was no comment at that time from the players’ association, and it has not contacted the union in the intervening nine weeks to raise an objection, the union said.