Bryan Habana scores THAT try!
It is time for our annual Super 14 awards, where we pay tribute to those who entertained us, rewarding the world-class performers and hurling brickbats in the direction of those who deserve them.
Here we go!
Player of the tournament: With 14 teams of almost 30 players each, we had over 400 players to choose from. But this one goes to Bulls wing Bryan Habana. There were moments of magic everywhere.
Coach of the Year: The obvious choice would have been Bulls mentor Heyneke Meyer, but our award goes to Sharks coach Dick Muir for taking his team to the top of the pile after the league stage.
Best team performance: Without doubt the Bulls' record 92-3 hammering of the Reds - never before has a team been so clinical in chasing a target and demolishing the opposition. About as merciless as it gets.
Team of the tournament: Coach of the tournament coached the Team of the Tournament: the Sharks, whose ascension to the top of the league was superb.
Big Match Temperament award: The Bulls needed 20 points from their last four matches, needed to beat the Reds by 72 points and needed to beat the defending champion Crusaders in the semi-final. 1,2,3 all achieved with minimum fuss, and then, six points down with a minute to go in the final...
The try that mattered most: Who else but Bryan Habana, for the Bulls against Sharks in the Final.
The best constructed try: Josh Holmes's score for the Waratahs against Highlanders in Week 12. Lachlan Turner started it. He went back to a metre or so from his goal-line to fetch a rolling kick, and then he started running - speeding, skating, swerving nearly 40 metres until Jimmy Cowan got him down. A full 27 passes later, teenager Josh Holmes took a pass from Peter Hewat, beat Nick Evans and got away from two others to score at the posts. There were many other great scores - like Brent Russell for the Stormers or Odwa Ndungane against the Crusaders (which set up that crucial conversion kick for Ruan Pienaar to win the match).
Best individual try: This one goes to Lachlan Turner, scoring for the Waratahs against the Crusaders in Week Nine. If you have or can get a recording of the match, go to the 12th minute for the most special moment of the 2007 Super 14 this year. Watch the astonishing teenager Lachlan Turner score a try. Then watch it over and over with undiminished wonder and delight. He sped 60 metres to score it. On the way he swept on the outside past Rico Gear and then on the outside, close to touch, he skated past All Black Leon MacDonald for a try of great splendour. Special mention must go to Cameron Shepherd, scoring for the Western Force against the Bulls in Week Three.
The kick that counted most: Derick Hougaard's tournament-winning conversion in the final, with a shiver of Sharks circling him for a chargedown.
Best kick under pressure: We mentioned it earlier - Ruan Pienaar's match-winning conversion from the touchline after the full-time hooter had sounded, to give the Sharks a 27-26 win over the Crusaders in Week Five. Why Pienaar didn't kick Francois Steyn's fluffed attempt of the Sharks' late try in the final is a mystery. Honourable mention for Cameron Shepherd's touchline conversion, to give the Western Force their first ever home win - a 18-17 triumph over the Hurricanes in Week Six.
Find of the tournament: The Crusaders' Stephen Brett - an instant replacement for Dan Carter. How many more fly-halves do they have in Crusaders country? There is also an honourable mention for Lachlan Turner and Brendan Leonard.
Supersub of the year: Every time he stepped onto the field Sharks centre Adi Jacobs just stepped into gaps - not to mention that crucial break which saw Odwa Ndungane over for the match-winner against the Crusaders. Jake White has never been one for impact players, but he may have missed a trick on this one.
Flop of the Year: Reds coach Eddie Jones. His lightweight charges looked like a club side, and the media sideshow he always provides just wasn't enough to distract any attention from gross under-performance. Can you believe he cut Julian Huxley from the side pre-season? Genius.
Most disappointing team: This one goes to the Waratahs. One of the pre-tournament favourites and in the end they were in a desperate struggle to avoid bottom spot. It was downright shocking at times with the once-dynamic Aussie side often using pick and drives in the most dour fashion and their vaunted backs running so laterally at times they might have been playing in a different dimension.
Motormouth award: He has been at it for so long that Eddie Jones is a master at his art. But there are honourable mentions for David Nucifora and Tana Umaga. It's just a bit boring isn't it?
Most gracious in victory: The Bulls, led by coach Heyneke Meyer and captain Victor Matfield (even though one or two players tried desperately to go over the top with their celebrations).
'Smite me, oh mighty smiter' award: Peter Hynes for the red card he received in Round Seven against the Western Force for his two yellow cards, the first for a deliberate knock-on and the second for a dangerous tackle - albeit quite a lot less dangerous than 20-odd other tackles that went unpunished in the game!
The 'Hot and cold' award: The Stormers for going nine weeks straight with a win-one-lose-one-win-one record. Why did they spoil it at the end? A classic case of beautiful mathematic congruency sacrificed on the altar of winning.
Best piece of original commentary: Murray Mexted - "Paul Tito was like a blind man in a brothel - left groping," he said as Corey Flynn scored for the Crusaders against the Hurricanes. Mexted also called Corey Flynn "galloping muttonchops". Poetic genius, or wordy clown? Honourable mention to Phil Kearns, who described one altercation in the Waratahs-Force match as being "like a couple of seagulls arguing over a chip".
The best losers' speech: Reds skipper John Roe had enough practice this season, but David Croft's deflated delivery of emotion after the Bulls game may see future Reds coaches decide on a skipper swap. It was glorious - nuanced, yet hard-hitting in an understated way. Well done DC!
The Kaiser Soze award for getting away with murder: Bulls winger Bryan Habana for getting away with his air tackle in the Super 14 Final on Percy Montgomery. Habana played the concerned offender beautifully, despite AJ Venter shoving him away from the incapacitated Percy. A rattled Percival just wasn't the same after that.
The anonymous alcoholic award: Ali Williams of the Blues for getting kicked out of the team after one boozy night too many. The aftermath was a little confusing, with word from Ali that he had just been routinely dropped and not disciplined, whilst the Blues management seemed to hint that there had been more offences...
The 'comeback kid' award: Sharks loose forward Bobby Skinstad for making a return to the game - and the Springbok squad - after the former South Africa skipper spent three years looking pretty on TV in England. Meaner and quieter, the Sharks rather failed to launch some of his playmaking magic, instead choosing to focus on the drop-kicking abilities of hot-headed Francois Steyn and dynamic John Smit.
Saddest man in utter despair award: Head buried in hands as Habana dived through a mystifyingly large midfield gap, Sharks skipper John Smit looked as though he had just fumbled the Super 14 trophy, which, of course, he had.
Planet Rugby
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