Habana reflects on World Cup progress

The 32-year-old drew level with Lomu's 15 career World Cup tries when he scored a hat-trick of tries against the USA in their final pool game last week.

While the milestone is a remarkable notch on his belt, Habana placed more value on what he adds to the team.

"I've always been a guy who lays my success and personal achievements on the contribution it makes to a team. Over my career, I've been really fortunate to have been part of successful teams and when you are able to contribute, even by scoring tries, that will always be more important than individual milestones," Habana said.

"I said immediately after that game that personal milestones are great, but I don't think I can ever compare myself to Jonah Lomu. I have massive respect for the way he changed the game with his ability, it only took him two tournaments to get to that record. I have massive respect for the rugby player he was and the person he has become, he's had to go through some hardships."

"Just the way he conducts himself with humility both on and off the field - without a doubt he will go down as one of the legends of the game and I think it's fitting that I missed that fourth try because that record Jonah made is something really special," Habana said.

With the dust settling on the pool stages, the focus has clearly shifted towards Saturday's knockout clash against Wales. The Springboks lost to Wales on their 2014 end of year tour and Habana is cognisant of the result.

"We lost that game so I think we need to look at what we did wrong, what Wales did well that we weren't able to handle and where we can improve. There were quite a few guys who weren't involved in that game with it falling outside of the Test window and we had quite a few injuries as well. I'm sure there is a lot we can learn from it," Habana said.

A lot has changed in a year though and the Bok flyer believes his side can get the better of their Northern Hemisphere opponents on Saturday.

"It has been a tournament of highs and lows for us but I think the mentality since that first week has been one that can be seen as positive going into this week. When we get to Saturday, each and every team will be on zero, its the knockout stages of the competition and if you lose you go home in 24 hours. We fully understand that and hopefully the combination of what has been working for us in the past two weeks will keep on improving and we can go forward," Habana said.

The Springboks face Wales at 17h00 on Saturday.

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