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Bryan Habana has struggled with his form.
Auckland – Springbok wing Bryan Habana is putting too much pressure on himself even though his performance is constantly improving, Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers said on Saturday.
“Bryan is his own enemy,” said De Villiers.
“He tries so hard and wants to satisfy everybody out there and I think he tweets too much, so he knows people's negative tweets back at him and that bothers him a lot, you know.”
The winger scored the Springboks' only try in their 13-5 World Cup victory over Samoa on Friday, with the finishing describable as vintage Habana.
De Villiers said that the man who holds the record for the most tries in a green-and-gold jersey needed to focus more on what he would like to achieve.
“The one guy that he misses is the guy in the mirror,” said De Villiers.
“I sat down with him this week and told him that there is only one Bryan Habana, leave the others out there and try and satisfy you.
“If you can’t satisfy you, you will never satisfy me and if you never satisfy me, you will lose your spot in the game.”
De Villiers said he was pleased with the way Habana had performed and that he was glad to have a variety of options at wing.
As for the team's progression to the knock-out stages of the competition, De Villiers felt that even though the results could have been more convincing, they had accomplished what they set out to do.
He said that winning was the only thing that mattered in the end, even if it was “ugly”.
“A lot of people call it ugly, but when you lose and it is not ugly they call it uglier, so I will rather go for the ugly and keep the uglier away,” he said.
“Our first goal is now achieved. We got through the pool stage and it was tough.”
Reflecting on his team's overall performance in what was labelled the pool of death, De Villiers viewed the fact that the Boks conceded only 22 points while scoring 160 as an accomplishment on its own.
His main concern heading into the tournament are injuries, and this is bound to decrease the number of hours he sleeps.
Frans Steyn, who injured his shoulder and stands to miss the rest of the World Cup, is the only major injury concern, according to the coach.
He was hopeful that the rest of the players who picked up battle scars would quickly recover.
“When lady luck turns her back on us, she turns it properly,” De Villiers said of losing three wings to injury in one match.
He indicated that lock Bakkies Botha would not be considered for the quarter-final clash.
“Bakkies will be good to go, but do we really need him now at 50 percent where he is, or do we need him at 100 percent?,” De Villiers asked.
“We will rather give him until the last minute to really be an option to fall back on.
“Danie (Rossouw) is going very well at the moment and we have got Johann (Muller) who is now properly healed and he will be in the mix this weekend too.
“On the 'loosies' (loose forwards) we are covered, so to have Bakkies there should anything happen to Danie is a soothing thought for me.” – Sapa
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