Takudzwa Ngwenya great try for the USA Sevens

Takudzwa 'Zee' Ngwenya was probably the most talked about player at the recent Rugby World Cup 2007. His try against the Springboks when he ran around Bryan Habana created a huge amount of hype, and was later named IRB Try Of The Tournament.

Ngwenya was inundated with phonecalls, interviews and received overs from a few clubs in Europe. He later chose to sign with French Top 14 team Biaritz and if all goes well, his star will continue to rise.

I watched him play for them on the weekend, and there's no doubt that he has electric feet. Whenever he got the ball there was a buzz and he managed to normally step past the first defender. I do feel he still needs to work on other aspects of his game though - his hands being one of them. But that will come with time and experience.

Before heading to Biaritz though he managed to travel with his country's Sevens team to the George leg of the IRB Sevens last month.

Against Canada, in the same game that we saw this huge hit, Ngwenya came on fresh off the bench. With literally his first touch of the ball he scored.

The large crowd who were keen to see him in action weren't disappointed, and with his little inside out, he's shown that he's no one try wonder.

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Takudzwa Ngwenya smokes Bryan Habana

If you've been on another planet for the past few days you may not have heard of this guy. So let me introduce you to the young man the entire rugby world has been talking about - Takudzwa Ngwenya.

Otherwise known as Z, Ngwenya is the 22 year old Zimbabwean born flyer who, on Sunday night against the Springboks left Bok speedster Bryan Habana for dead, scoring a fantastic USA Eagles try that will live long in the memory as a World Cup classic.

Z not only finished off a length of the field break that started with Todd Clever's intercept, but he also did something that to my knowledge no other man has ever done on the international stage - he ran around Bryan Habana.

And since then, the phonecalls haven't stopped, with him already having been approached by two English clubs. A move to Europe looks on the cards for sure.

Radiologist Ngwenya is modest about the moment of the World Cup so far.

"I was thinking of kicking but then I thought I would try and get him to stop, and then gas him out wide," Ngwenya said. "And he did stop. It's not that I'm fast, I just got him to stop so that worked pretty well. I knew he would be annoyed. If I got beaten by a slower person, I'd be annoyed."

"He (Habana) is the best winger in the world," Ngwenya said. "I was intimidated every time he got the ball. If you look at the video or saw the game live, I was just yelling 'come on, come on'. I was intimidated. I didn't want to leave him one on one with me - and luckily I didn't."

Ngwenya describes the two speedsters' meeting after the match:
"He just said, 'Nice job', and 'Sorry about the bump'.

"Sorry about the bump" referring to the headclash that between them early in the second half.

All in all, a great match and nice to see the USA being so actively involved in the World Cup. For the first time they look to have a true rugby superstar, who scored a try that will not be forgotten any time soon and will hopefully raise the status of the odd balled game in the US.

Final score: 64-15 to South Africa

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Serious gas shown by Eagles wing Ngwenya

Zimbabwean born Takudzwa Ngwenya scored this electric solo 50 meter dash out of nothing against Samoa a few days ago.

He got the ball with not a helluva lot of space but showed exactly what a bit of determination and raw speed can do for a side.

Yes, the Samoan tackles weren't great (as the commentator went out of his way to point out), but the running and fend were great.

Fantastic to see the USA score a try like this. It also lifted their side and they ended up getting within 5 points of the eventual winners Samoa, thanks to an excellent conversion from captain Mike Hercus.

Final Score: 25-21 to Samoa

UPDATE: Watch his more recent brilliant try against the Springboks here.

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