Springboks legend Bryan Habana admits that he misses Super Rugby after South Africa ditched the competition to join the United Rugby Championship.
A two-time Super Rugby winner with the Bulls in 2007 and 2009, Habana scored an impressive 59 tries in the competition during his career in Pretoria and with the Stormers.
During his playing days, the South African teams all played in the south hemisphere’s premier club competition but South Africa tested the waters in the north with the Cheetahs and Southern Kings playing in the then-PRO14 before the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers officially made the leap in 2021.
South Africa’s exit from Super Rugby
With the Springboks going on to defend their Rugby World Cup title in 2023, the debate has been sparked that the South African teams’ absence in Super Rugby has had a negative impact on the All Blacks and Wallabies.
Australia endured a torrid spell in 2023 under Eddie Jones, failing to surpass the group stages of the World Cup in France and, while New Zealand did manage to reach the final, they have not been ranked as the top team in the world since 2019 – a spot that they held for long spells over the previous two decades.
Former Springboks captain Bobby Skinstad believes that South Africa’s departure from Super Rugby certainly impacted the All Blacks.
“In conversation with a lot of my contemporaries at the World Cup who were playing at that time and now do the speaking circuit or punditry, they were all very disappointed they didn’t have the challenge of the South African teams,” he told Planet Rugby in an exclusive interview.
“Just to sharpen the knife, so to speak. Because you get to a World Cup and you haven’t been tackled by a South African for 11 months. It’s different.”
‘South Africa leaving Super Rugby has been abysmal’
As for his 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning teammate, Habana, he has labelled Super Rugby as ‘abysmal’ since the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers left the competition that he loved.
Speaking on the KOKO Show, Habana reviewed Australia’s first year under Joe Schmidt, commented on their Autumn Nations Series and expressed his disappointment of South Africa leaving Super Rugby.
“So genuinely I think World Rugby and the southern hemisphere needs Australia to be good,” he said.
“South Africa leaving Super Rugby has been abysmal in my personal opinion and we know the financial reasons for that. But for the growth of rugby, having the southern hemisphere strong [in November] has been great, particularly ahead of the Lions series. That development under Joe Schmidt [has been impressive] after what was a pretty shambolic 18 months with Eddie Jones.
“I miss Super Rugby, I loved it, I absolutely love Super Rugby and I don’t know if we’re ever going to get that parity again.”
After finishing bottom of the Rugby Championship earlier this year, Australia got their November campaign off to a fine start by beating England and Wales, and looked to be on track for a Grand Slam before Scotland emphatically crushed their hope of doing so.
However, the Wallabies brushed themselves off and put up a strong fight against Ireland, only narrowly losing to Andy Farrell’s men.
The Wallabies performances has Habana licking his lips for the Rugby Championship next year when the Springboks will host Schmidt’s men in back-to-back fixtures in South Africa.
“I loved the challenge against the Wallabies it just presented something different,” he said.
“And what we’ve seen in this Autumn Nation Series has been great because it’s a two-Test Series in South Africa next year [during the Rugby Championship].”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/bryan-habana-south-africa-leaving-super-rugby-has-been-abysmal
