JOHANNESBURG – Springbok record try-scorer Bryan Habana has given the strongest hint yet that he’s on the verge of retiring from the sport.

Speaking to the Power of Sport podcast on the red carpet at the recent Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco and in advance of a record-breaking night for Roger Federer, he first raised the issue of stepping away from the sport before being asked by host Jean Smyth for clarification as to whether he’d made a final call.

“No, I haven’t made any decisions on my future yet. The reason being that obviously I’ve just got back on the park training-wise two months ago and Chris Ashton’s scoring tries aplenty in that Toulon jersey, and Josua Tuisova on the other wing’s making it rather difficult to get into the side.

“If I don’t play too much rugby going forward then there might be a couple of months left in me somewhere where there’s a flag that’s white with a red dot, possibly, but (I’m) just looking at options at the moment.

“I’m getting along, I will be 35 in June but with a World Cup in Japan in 2019 and possible opportunities of networking there post-rugby it’s a lot to think about. We’ve got ‘number two’ on the way in just over a month’s time so just making a few decisions, rugby’s given me so much.