Bjorn Basson will come to Newlands this week with two personal goals: to improve on the Bulls try-scoring record he jointly holds with Bryan Habana and to stake his claim for the Springbok No 11 jersey.
However, don’t be surprised if it’s the veteran who has the last laugh in Saturday’s Super Rugby match between the Stormers and Bulls at Newlands.
Habana may not be scoring as many tries this season as the man who last week against the Waratahs equalled his try-scoring record of nine in a season for the Bulls, but statistics point to him still working much harder than Basson in the team context.
The last duel between the two was decided in Habana’s favour when he scooped up Dewaldt Duvenage’s superbly weighted kick from under Basson’s nose to strike the knockout blow in the Stormers’ excellent 23-13 win at Loftus Versfeld.
Habana is not as prolific a try-scorer at the Stormers as he was when he played his rugby in Pretoria, but to date he has scored tries in all three his matches against the Bulls since moving to the Cape.
There were two in the 38-10 win when the Bulls sent their second string to Newlands last year, an intercept try in the 2010 Super14 final and then that little bit of individual brilliance at Loftus this year.
Habana may have started the season well below par, but Verusco’s statistics still point to a player performing well within his team’s structure.
He is often criticised for his error count, but his percentage of handling errors are lower than Basson’s when it’s calculated against the number of times he had possession.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee’s defence against Habana’s critics has always been that the player is extremely valuable when his work-rate is taken into consideration.
And, even if the Stormers are not among the top attacking sides in the tournament, Habana cannot be accused of not being pro-active with the ball in hand in an effort to try and make things happen.
In the 12 games that he has played, he has handled the ball 153 times (73 carries) against the 109 (53 carries) of Basson in 14 games. Habana has also gained 909 metres in territory against the 647m of Basson.
When everything is taken into consideration both teams will be satisfied with their wings – the Stormers because notwithstanding all the criticism Habana’s value is still underlined by his statistics, and the Bulls because Basson is scoring tries.
Basson’s last visit to Newlands in 2010 was in the colours of Griquas – he scored a hat trick of tries, but still ended up on the losing side as his side went down 32-48.
Apart from his ability to finish, Basson is excellent at plucking high balls out of the air. The Stormers would probably have been a tad more concerned if that skill was going to come packaged with Fourie du Preez’s excellent kicking boot this week, but will still be mindful of the threat.
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June 8th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
There is no better scrambling wing defender than Habana in RSA… a key reason why the Stormer’s ‘B’ backs managed to beat the Blues…
Peeves me that JPP is played at 11 for the Sharks… when he plays 14 for the Boks…
June 8th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
GO BULLS!
June 8th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Have a look at this and check the name of the acting headmaster!
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/School-red-faced-over-penis-prank-20110608
June 8th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Reply to pietploos @ 1:34 pm: Irene Van Dyk’s husband…
June 8th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
OK – thanks!
Het nogal gewonder…..
June 8th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
Reply to pietploos @ 1:34 pm:
hehehehe
The markings are still there.
The headmasters name shows his origin, but is there something else about him?
June 8th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Reply to bryce_shark_in_oz @ 1:47 pm:
Who is she?
June 8th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Reply to Ollie_ Shark Attack @ 1:55 pm:
een van die beste netbal spelers wat SA nog ooit gehad het en wat besluit het om te landuit agv die chaos in Netbal SA.
Sy is moer lank OOK.
langer as die ou desember vakansies…
June 8th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Reply to Ollie_ Shark Attack @ 1:55 pm:
The ex RSA Netball champ that left to become NZ’s most successful Netball captain of all time…
June 8th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Reply to pietploos @ 2:09 pm:
Hehe… but I was only joking with the quip… have no clue who the headmaster is…
June 8th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Reply to pietploos @ 1:34 pm:
“A funny harmless prank, much better than the kids robbing houses or burning down buildings.”
—–
They do that in NZ as well? Is it also the
fault of apartheid?
June 8th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Reply to Boertjie @ 3:06 pm:
Pretty damn ingenious though…
June 8th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Steph that was a pretty pathetic article completely lacking in any substance aside from an overly clumsy attempt to be subtle about making excuses for Habana and denigrating the fact that Basson is having a good season…
That was pathetic… written for the Newlands cheap seats… no journalistic integrity or intelligence went into producing this tripe.
June 9th, 2011 at 12:10 am
Reply to bryce_shark_in_oz @ 2:09 pm:
I don’t think that she has ever captained the NZ netball team. She certainly has kept them at the top internationally with her incredible goal shooting stats. Nice lady, good advert for SA.
June 9th, 2011 at 3:08 am
Reply to mawm-the shark @ 12:10 am:
Actually you’re right… being the most capped netballer of all time just made her more the spokesperson to go to…
It was her leading out NZ into the Commgames last year that made me think that too…
Interestingly she ‘is’ a primary school teacher in the very same district as the above-mentioned head-master… lol… so maybe they are married?
He must be a tall bastard with her at over 190cm’s!
June 9th, 2011 at 9:46 am
Reply to DavidS the gloomy Lion @ 8:37 pm:
but 3 out of 40 stats “prove” that Habana is better and Steph is outlining this to prove or his point.
Pretty much consistent with what you and Bryce do here daily?
Remember habana is the ‘best scrambling defender in SA’ and scrambling on defence is according to bryce the most important aspect of a wing.
Habs ovveruns, cannot offload, pass, catch or side step but man can he can scramble on defence – thus a bok shoe in!
June 9th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Only stat we need is the one where Habana played in the 2007 final and is thus one of the gat gabbas who rule the team and WILL play no matter what form they are in.
Same for the useless CJ who I hope stay out of the team for good.
June 9th, 2011 at 9:54 am
Reply to the cheetahs are pumas! @ 9:46 am:
Habs ovveruns, cannot offload, pass, catch or side step but man can he can scramble on defence – thus a bok shoe in!
———
Also jumps in the air, swings his arms but misses the
high ball altogether.
Shrugs and shakes his head followed by some kind of smile after a fookup at least six times in a match.
Always runs like his boots are 3 sizes to big and that
he’s afraid of losing them.
June 9th, 2011 at 9:56 am
Snor receives a skype call from habana:
“hello Habs, hoekom skyd jy jou kop so our grote wats fout?”
– ag nee peter ek voel nie lekker nie want my meisie het vir my die sleutels gegooi en toe vang my stupid hande dit weer nie raak nie?
“Habs jy is 2007 royalty, seersekerlik is dit Haar fout?”
- nee peter ek dink dis daardie simpel bjorn basson. hoekom druk hy nou al die driee by die bulle en hier by wp scramble ek net heeldag op defence? ek hou nie van hom nie peter.
“Habs dan los ek die klein boesman by die huis.”
- dankie peter ek voel stukke beter.
“Ok Habs hou maar op die koppie skud en dink aan `n nuwe baard en hare kombinasie vir die week se game. Jy raak rerig meer sexy elke saterdag.”
- dankie peter ek bel sommer nou weer Top Billing en hoor of my huis nie weer kan feature nie. Die kaap is lekker peter.
June 9th, 2011 at 10:04 am
we can do worse than having:
9) Fourie 10) Steyn 11) Mvovo 12) Steyn 13) Fourie 14) Basson 15) JPP.
Hougaard, Pienaar and Jean Divs on bench
June 9th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Reply to the cheetahs are pumas! @ 9:56 am:
Goed gesê.
Maar jy vergeet van die horde turnovers wat
hy volgens die stats wen.
June 9th, 2011 at 10:34 am
14/11 screwed on defence because Basson has the worst tackle completion record of all local wings…. Mvovo close second..
JPP can’t kick
Ja shields
It’s a great thing you have nothing to do with team selections….
As for what I said it had nothing to do with what the statistics said… it was aimed solely at Steph (Luke Lofsanger) Nel doing his very best to denigrate Basson’s performance as opposed to that of Habana.
The truth is that Habana is like Joe Rokokoco(or whatever) …. he was phenomenal in several season ago but he’s been “worked out” as all players like them always are when they are so outstanding… the question however is how well have they reacted? I mean you seriously do not expect teams to keep throwing “hello Jesus” passes with him hovering around ready to pounce and the consequences of THAT do you? Especially not teams like New Zealand and Australia.
His statistics for try scoring will diminish but the value THEN is in the stuff you do not see easily… like pitching up at a first receive position to drag defenders and offload for someone else to get the glory… like making a game saving tackle on the other wing… like being back in position when the high ball comes down on Aplon to take the tackle and then pass to Aplon to kick it away… like making a dummy run knowing that the defenders see him coming and go … “Habana’s gonna geddit… lookout!” and then someone else does…
But then again your idea of a good wing is one that spends the game sliding into the corner for his fourth try and preferably the rest of the time running towards the tryline to do that sliding smiley dive….
June 9th, 2011 at 10:35 am
ps.
I rate JP Pietersen as a better wing than Habana and I see you have him in your team too, but you hardly see him with a ball in a game…
The wonderment of your oxymoronic wishes will never cease to amaze me.
June 9th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Reply to DavidS the gloomy Lion @ 10:34 am:
kak man. dont say to me habana does all the basics right and therefore needs to be the starting bok.
The whole idea of a ‘national’ side is that you get to pick the best of the best. The things you mention of Habana are the basics for off the ball wing play. Some are better than others but essentially your wing needs to be great at what makes wings great:
speed
astuteness
handling skills
etc etc etc.
The difference for me is that with Habana you need to give him a clear open space opportunity with very little defenders and then maybe he wont bliksem over his own feet (like he does 100 times in a game when he gets a speed wobble and slips) and score.
Basson seems to create something out of very little.
Then again who am I to crit one of the anointed untouchable class of 2007 just because they are off form. Silly me.
June 9th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Nee hel check hoe habana i bal tussen sy bene lat gaan haha dit was classic, kani onthou teen wie ni, chiefs ek dink. Probleem met habana hy gaan vir intercept en dan MOET hy scramble op defence. Basson het die X-faktor sal meer games wen vir sy span as wat habana sal
June 10th, 2011 at 3:33 am
You’re only as good as your last game and he was excellent… not too mention being the glue that held the B backline together against the Blues in their upset…
Still a few too many handling errors but he’s turning ball over, pressurising opposition on attack and offensive defence… and there is no better scrambling cover defence at the moment… his kicking has been really good too and he’s starting to score some tries in a team that scores most through their forwards or off broken play rather than sending it down the line!
Yep he makes my 30 man squad with JPP and Aplon currently my first choice starters…
June 10th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Reply to bryce_shark_in_oz @ 3:33 am:
starting to score some tries
—-
Jip, he did the running for a try in the last game
after the Stormers pulled their second (or maybe third?)
surprise move in two years – letting him cut into
a created gap.
June 10th, 2011 at 11:47 am
Reply to bryce_shark_in_oz @ 3:33 am:
his kicking? bryce what position did you play? Habana has a worse kicking game than JPP. Starting to score some tries (you mean he scored one try)
jesus the bar is low aint it!
June 10th, 2011 at 11:51 am
Reply to Boertjie @ 10:42 am:
But Boer.. being the most watched player on the team and the intercept is FEARED – if you look at NZ passes against the Bokke you will see NO looping far passes ever anymore and that was one of their “let the ball do the work” tricks.
Back to the most watched attacking player of the opposition and STILL scoring tries is proof of greatness…
The fact that Habana is still capable of scoring tries is testament to his greatness and not proof of deteriorating form.
The best use of his talents is to shock or surprise because as a rule he is being watched like a hawk…
June 10th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Reply to DavidS the gloomy Lion @ 11:51 am:
habana last had an intercept in 2008. You okes clutching at straws now.
sounds like jonathan moyo on talk702 yesterday defending zimbabwe.
June 10th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
if that doos drops one ball, followed by the head-shake in the world world cup I will stop watching the boks.
June 10th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Reply to DavidS the gloomy Lion @ 11:51 am:
I think you must be joking.
As for most watched player -
Yes, most watched to see when he pulls his next blooper.
And you usually don’t have to wait long.
June 10th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Reply to the cheetahs are pumas! @ 11:56 am:
Did you actually read what I wrote?
How can your answer be so disjointedly unconnected from what I wrote that it has absolutely nothing to do with the points I made or the facts quoted in support of them…
ps. suggest NZ v Barbarians 2009….
June 10th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
RHODES APPEALS
Rugby body SANZAR has said that Lions flanker Michael Rhodes has appealed his two-month suspension for a dangerous tackle.