Habana smashes opposition

This week I’ll be focusing on the pace men out on the wings. Wing seems to be a bit of a touchy subject, with everyone having their  favourites.

I feel we need speedsters on the wings that are not only great finishers, but also look for work, can create a spark when given the smallest of opportunity, link up with the fullback well and can defend their hearts out.

South Africa is blessed with four or five of the fastest men in world rugby at the moment, namely:

• Brian Habana
• JP Pietersen
• Jongi Nokwe
• Tonderai Chavhanga
• (Philip Burger)

I’ve listed Philip Burger in brackets because although he is a Springbok sevens player, he is yet to play the 15 man game at international level. I say ‘yet’, because (and I know I’m going to take alot of flack for including him) I feel he is a special talent. Yes he’s arrogant, yes he pisses people off with that silly dive he does when scoring a try. His defence is also questionable, but these are all traits that can be taught to a player, or un-taught in some instances. What you can’t teach a player is spacial awareness. I personally think that Philip Burger has the best spacial awareness of any player on the scene at the moment, with all the pace in the world to back that. He also covers fullback/wing. More should have been done to keep him in this country. But who knows, maybe he’ll mature during his stint up North. Don’t get me wrong, he would by no means be amongst my 1st choice players, but I would love to see him groomed to be in the mix.

Alot of people tend to forget that players go through temporary form dips from time to time. We as South Africans don’t tend to be very forgiving when our players do go through a bit of a slump.

Ofcourse, I’m talking about Brian Habana, my 1st choice on the wing. Yes, Habana had a bit of a form dip in recent months, but he has since come back, and is right back up there. For me, Habana is exactly what we are looking for in a wing, all the pace in the world, gets around the field, looks for work, can tackle players back over the advantage line, and that ever dangerous habit of scoring long range intercepts when given the slightest sniff or the ball. I’d like to see him given a bit more space, as our backline runs him dead. Or use him as an effective decoy, as he always seems to have two players marking him, opening gaps for the fullback to join the line.

JP Pieterson is the next player who selects himself. Love him or hate him, he has that ‘x-factor’ . He has the ability to create something out of nothing. His kicking out of hand has improved, and his defense is solid. Enough said.

The next  two players in the mix would be the Ndungane brothers, although not the quickest wings around, they have enough pace to hold their own. Both are safe under the high ball and link up with the fullback well. How great would it be to see them play in the same test together, not to mention confusing to opposition players. I prefer Odwa’s flair over Akona’s more text book approach, but non the less, they should both still be there.

Next up is the battle between arguably the two fastest players on the scene: Chavhanga VS Nokwe. Chavhanga started off last years S14 as one of the danger men in the competition, until injury sidelined him. This year was a re-run of last. His hamstrings seem to be a liability, and I’d like to see him play a full season. He opens the door for Nokwe, although I must admit, I haven’t seen much of the Cheetah’s games this season, the talk is that he is playing quite well. Like the saying goes, “there’s no substitute for pace’…

My choices: (starting/understudy)

11. Brian Habana/Odwa Ndungane

14. JP Pietersen/Akona Ndungane

In the mix: Jongi Nokwe