
Former Springbok Rugby Captain
Bryan Gary Habana OIS (born 12 June 1983) is a South African rugby union player who played as a wing for Toulon in the French Top 14 competition, and for the South Africa national team (the Springboks).
He was part of the South Africa team that won the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and was one of the stars of the tournament, his eight tries equalling the single-tournament record set by Jonah Lomu in 1999. He was subsequently named the 2007 IRB Player of the Year. During the 2015 Rugby World Cup he equalled Lomu’s career record of 15 tries in World Cups, and also moved into joint second place among all time test try scorers, with a tally of 64. Since he has moved up to absolute second place with a total of 67 tries behind only Daisuke Ohata of Japan.
Named after former Manchester United footballers Bryan Robson and Gary Bailey, Habana was educated at King Edward VII School and Rand Afrikaans University (now known as the University of Johannesburg).
He played outside centre and scrumhalf in provincial and age group rugby, but once he was moved to the wing a vast improvement was seen. He was a member of the South African Sevens side in the 2003–2004 World Sevens Series. He made his Currie Cup debut for the Golden Lions in 2004, doing well enough to be voted the country’s most promising player that year. That November, he made his Test debut against England at Twickenham aged 21. Though the game was lost 32–16, Habana came on as a reserve to score a try with his first touch of the ball against the then World Cup holders. The following week Habana was moved into the starting line-up, where he contributed two tries to the 45–10 win over Scotland at Murrayfield. The next week, he was selected in the same position, on the left wing, in that year’s final match against Argentina in Buenos Aires
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