Habana hails fighting Irish

SOUTH AFRICA’S flying wing Bryan Habana has praised Ireland for shaking up the World Cup following their famous win over Australia.

The Springboks face Pool D minnows and neighbours Namibia at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium tomorrow in their third game of the tournament and the defending champions may well have to face the Wallabies in the quarter-finals as a result of Ireland’s 15-6 victory over Robbie Deans’ side at Eden Park.

Of Ireland’s win, Habana said: “It’s great for the World Cup, it’s shaken the whole thing up and it’s made it a lot more exciting.

“It was a classic example where conditions just weren’t forgiving for running rugby. Ireland, coming from the northern hemisphere, were able to deal with those conditions better. It was exciting, and sounded like the guys were back at Croke Park.”

Like Ireland, the Springboks chose to spend time in Taupo ahead of their third game, having arrived in the lakeside town after an impressive win over Fiji on Saturday. Habanamissed that game due to a knee injury but returns in search of his country’s all-time try-scoring record, needing just one more to reach 39 and eclipse Joost van der Westhuizen.