Business OUTsurance Channel Marketing breakfast with Bryan Habana

The Gauteng Channel Marketing Team from Business OUTsurance planned a breakfast for their FirstRand partners with Bryan Habana as the guest of honour, for Friday 26th October. Whilst planning, we never imagined that the World Cup would end up in South Africa and Bryan the IRB rugby player of the year. 

It was decided that a question and answer session would be best as Bryan was pushed for time and the assumption was that the public have lots of questions they would like to pose to him. The much anticipated day arrived and we were fortunate to have Bryan generously give up 45 minutes of his time as he had to rush off to meet with the President and the ticker tape parade was to start at 10h00. The lack of time also prevented us from having a signing session but it was decided that we would auction 3 rugby balls with Bryan's signature which would be donated to a charity of his choice. The charity he chose was "Reach for a Dream" and more specifically to the benefit of a young boy from Khayalitsha who loves rugby and who needs a motorised wheel chair. 

Bryan started by saying that he was fortunate to have a God given talent, but also that without the support of his father he would not have been able to achieve what he has. He mentioned that his father had never missed a rugby game that he has played. He started his rugby career as a scrumhalf as he was always the smallest boy on the team - he only developed after leaving school. 

When the question was asked as to whether he would ever play for the Sharks - "Never in my Life" was the answer. As to whether he was disappointed that it was not a South Africa vs. New Zealand final he said jokingly that it was a relief. 

With regards to the team and the experiences at the Rugby World Cup - He did mention that if they were not as mature a team as they are, they would never have been able to achieve what they did at the game against Fiji - when the score was 20/20 - they had to remain focussed and thus managed to beat the Fijians. He said that it was impossible to explain the feeling of winning the Rugby World Cup and that the whole tournament far exceeded his expectations. 

Bryan is a humble and kind person who shows a genuine interest in young and aspiring rugby players and this makes him one of the most popular rugby players amongst the younger generation. As a relatively young player, Bryan plans to be part of the team at the 2011 Rugby World Cup - and we are sure with all that talent he will be.