Generational talent Haashim Pead stamped his first mark on the Lions team, scoring a match-winning try with the clock in the red against the Sharks, a moment that should catapult him to more regular game time.
Minutes have been hard to come by this season for the Junior Springboks star, who is just the latest rising star off the South African conveyor belt of talent.
In fact, he has racked up just 29 minutes this season with the Lions – 15 of which came in his impressive cameo in Durban.
The presence of Springbok Morne van den Berg and fellow rising star Nico Steyn has limited the youngster’s game time, but his influential shift against a stacked Sharks outfit demands further consideration.
It wasn’t just the manner in which he bamboozled Sharks front-rower Mawande Mdanda to sneak over in the corner, but the swagger with which he approached the 14 minutes prior.
Special player
He came onto the park when his side were trailing and under pressure. His first pass was a wonky one that Chris Smith fumbled, backwards, but he immediately recovered with a brilliantly executed box-kick. The Sharks had bossed the airwaves before he came on, but with his first kick, he gave Angelo Davids a chance to compete on the front foot.
The former Blitzboks star did knock the ball on, but he still applauded the young scrum-half’s kick that moved the side upfield.
He repeated the trick soon after with another expertly placed kick that the Sharks failed to regather, and Pead toed the ball on deep into the hosts’ 22. He was outpaced and beaten by Grant Williams; there is no shame in that, and the Sharks cleared.
His next involvements were all positive, including his final act when he dived over for the winning score.
Lions boss Ivan Rooyen sang his praises in the aftermath of the match and explained why his game time had been so limited this season.
“We are super excited for all our number nines,” he said.
“Haashim is a special player. We have been working hard with him in quickness and in game plan.
“He had some nice exposure touring with us – seeing the picture. We are as excited about him as everyone else, and I am happy that he could make the difference today [Saturday].”
Statement performance
It was a statement performance from Pead in a crunch SA Rugby derby as his stock continues to rise and rise. Just last year, he was invited to train with the Springboks after his heroics in the World Rugby U20 Championship en route to South Africa winning the competition.
In fact, that’s where he first hit the headlines as he smashed tournament records set by no other than Antoine Dupont. Opta detailed the stats at the end of the pool stages.
“Haashim Pead has gained 232 metres from his 15 carries in the 2025 #WorldRugbyU20s, the most by a scrum-half in the pool stages of the competition since Opta have recorded this data – the only other #9 to make 200+ was Antoine Dupont in 2016 (227),” the company posted on social media platform X at the time.
Adding: “Haashim Pead has also been directly involved in eight tries (scored 5, assisted 3), the most of any player in that time, overtaking the previous record of 7, which was jointly held by New Zealand duo Braydon Ennor (2017) and Jason Emery (2012).”
While they have limited the rising star’s minutes in a bid to ensure that he was completely up to scratch before unleashing him, and that time has arrived.
The Jo’burgers’ next two fixtures in the Challenge Cup are against French clubs Lyon and Perpignan. Having lost their opening two games in the tournament, the Lions rank in last place in pool 2 with an outside chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.
Van den Berg has played just three times for the club this season, and while he was used sparingly for the Springboks, he would have still gone through the paces with Rassie Erasmus’ squad and could probably do with a short break and reset.
Free hits for the Lions
Ultimately, the Lions could see the next two fixtures as free hits, taking some pressure off the youngster but deploying him against two French clubs, the latter on foreign soil.
Both Lyon and Perpignan are ranked 12th and 13th overall on the Top 14 table this season, with the latter boasting just two wins in the competition, though that most recent one came just this weekend against league leaders, Toulouse.
There is no doubt about it, Pead is a special, generational talent, a notion all coaches who have worked with him agree with. That talent absolutely needs to be nurtured, but also form needs to be rewarded when warranted, and he can only be shielded for so long before it’s detrimental to his development.
The 20-year-old will be brimming with confidence from that cameo in Durban, and Van Rooyen should afford him the opportunity to build on that performance and upset the status quo of the scrum-half pecking order.
If he does so successfully, a spot on the plane to Australia in 2027 won’t be completely out of the realm of possibility. Erasmus has stuck by so many of the stars who have delivered results previously, but hasn’t been shy to throw a rising star into the deep end, Canan Moodie and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu being perfect examples.
Former Bok scrum-half Rudy Paige agrees and said as much last year when the rookie was invited into the Bok camp.
“He still has a lot to learn and needs to play in big competitions such as the United Rugby Championship to develop his game even more. But we are going to see Haashim Pead in a Springbok jersey sooner rather than later,” he told IOL.
“He has all the capabilities to make it.”
We are witnessing the start of another generational talent’s career.
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