What a big difference a week in rugby makes! But like last week when the Boks played badly I find myself in a strange but familiar position this week where I call on fans to calm down a bit following the Boks walloping of the Fijians on Saturday.
From no-hopers who will struggle to make it through the pool stages the Boks suddenly find themselves as one of the top 3 contenders to lift the World Cup, and it only took six days for that to change!
Last week I felt we did not give the Welsh enough credit, and although it was not a good Bok performance by any means the win was vital if only for the character shown by the Boks against the best Welsh performance I witnessed in over a decade.
Yesterday the Boks could do no wrong it seems, and not actually having browsed through sites or papers that usually gives player ratings, I will be surprised if any Springbok player scored under 7 points for the match.
Like last week, I do not deny it was a very good Bok performance – or that certain players played out of their skins and deserve every accolade that comes their way, but please folks, it was only Fiji…
South Africa has played the Island teams enough over the years to know exactly what type of game they bring on match-day, and what we need to do to win them. The Boks always had the class and the depth to easily see off Fiji on Saturday, the question was always going to be by how much or how convincing. 49 points scored is great, but even Namibia put 25 past them…
I am ecstatic in the fact that they did manage to achieve victory in a very convincing manner, it will do as much for the psyche of this team as the narrow victory against Wales last week – but I cannot agree with the sudden calls for players selection in certain positions solely based on this one game.
One position seems to be a major talking point, and that is inside centre. Frans Steyn had a great game yesterday and personally settled some concerns I had as to proper depth we had for that position. If anything does have to happen to Jean de Villiers, we know we have a world class player to step up into the position.
I am however still unconvinced if Frans Steyn offers the Springboks more from centre or fullback? It is not a question if he plays, but where he plays and offers the Boks the most. One also has to consider the fact that if Frans is to replace Jean de Villiers as most believe he should, the Springboks will lose a world class player, but if Frans continues to play at fullback where he is the best the Boks currently have in that position, you will have two experienced, world class players in the team.
Many will counter that Lambie can easily do a job at fullback for us if Frans plays 12 as he showed yesterday, and not denying he is a fearless and talented young player, Lambie is still a rookie at test level who has played more at flyhalf than fullback at lower levels over the last 12 months.
The questions I keep asking myself are the following;
- Is Frans a better inside centre than Jean de Villiers?
- Is Frans a better inside centre than fullback?
- Where does Frans offer the Boks the most currently?
- Is Lambie a better fullback than Frans Steyn?
My opinion and answers on all these questions are borderline in some instances, but still a ‘No’. Frans Steyn on form is not only the best option we have at fullback, but arguably one of the most dangerous fullbacks at the tournament given his skills and deadly boot.
Frans might have shown some instances of brilliance at inside centre but it would take a brave man to say he is better than De Villiers in this position.
The security and options that Frans and Lambie brings to the Boks is a massive boost to the team knowing that if anything goes wrong or injuries happen, we have some world class back up’s and options.
The Francoise Hougaard situation is a similar case in point – would he offer the same impact he currently does if he starts a match, or are the Boks best served to use him in the last 30 or 40 minutes?
Given that there are injuries to players like Habana and De Villiers, I would personally like to see Frans Steyn start the next game at 12 again with Lambie at fullback to not only give them more game time ahead of the play-off’s, but to make them more familiar with the position itself and give them confidence.
Similarly, the next two play-off games should see Hougaard start to see if he does bring the same explosive impact from the starting whistle he currently does from the bench. Given the depth and talent, players like Matfield, Habana and De Villiers together with John Smit and other senior or important players can actually be given the week off to rest or fully recover from injuries giving the fringe players much needed game time.
My match-day 22 for the Namibian game will look like this:
- Beast or Gurthro (depending on game time played/needed)
- Bismarck du Plessis
- CJ van der Linde
- Bakkies Botha (40min max)
- Danie Rossouw
- Francois Louw
- Schalk Burger ©
- Willem Alberts
- Fourie du Preez
- Butch James
- Francois Hougaard
- Frans Steyn
- Juan de Jongh
- JP Pietersen
- Pat Lambie
Reserves
- Chiliboy Ralepele
- Jannie du Plessis
- Johann Muller
- Heinrich Brussow
- Pierre Spies
- Morne Steyn
- Ruan Pienaar
- If Johann Muller is not fit Willem Alberts moves to the bench with Pierre Spies to start and Odwa Ndungane coming in changing the split from 5/2 to 4/3
Rugby-Talkers we must get our act togheter, look were lies our Pool. Come on this is your Captain speaking
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Morne’ I did say last week that you play as well as your opposition lets you and Wales played out of their skins, can’t remember if it was on your article or elsewhere in the blog….anyway. Big danger now is Samoa, or maybe it wouldn’t be too bad a thing if we did go through as 2nd qualifier, the way it looks now with the Ireland victory is that us, NA and Oz all end up in the same pool for quarter finals….this isn’t good! I agree with you….yes this was only Fiji, but players who had to stand up did and we shaded their physical challenge. Spies I think had his best game for a long time and also did his fair share of lineout work, which I commented on last week, with Vic injured that he had to do this. Lambie too came through with flying colours, even after Morne’ had given him 3 hospital passes with a rampaging Fiji loose trio thundering through. Glad to see Bakkies is his old ebullient self when he revved the Fiji wing for his no arms tackle on FdP and then he revved their lock too when he tried to intervene….The bloody ref must be blind, because that charge on FdP was blatantly an attempt to injure him in my opinion. FdP needs lots of game time…..and we should only give Ruan 10 or 15 minutes in the easier games when we are well ahead. If Samoa don’t win against us then they will be going home….so lets be watching for some of the dirty stuff. yes I dont’t think we must get too excited….but our guys are clealy coming into form….Fiji were up for this game and they only gave up in the last quarter.
NA=NZ
Morne i have absolutely no problem with your team and your article. Peter de Villiers although some might think he did nothing, planned this World cup long ago and one must admit his plans are coming together, like the A Team says. So whatever we speculate he will do his own way. Having supported him al the way i think he will rest the Big guns like JS, FduP, BB, Vic and Morne. Maybe even Schalk Burger. From then on it will be his 1st team al the way, bar injuries.
In Beeld
The coach says they should rather use the match as an opportunity to help key players get match fit, as they haven’t played together an awful lot recently.
“The team only had two weeks together before the World Cup tournament and there were injuries. I think we should do the right thing and approach every game like a final.
“Every chance should be used to get the players sharp and to let the combinations settle,” said De Villiers.
Battered and bloodied, Fiji prop Deacon Manu made one of the more telling World Cup statements under the Wellington Regional Stadium grandstand on Saturday night.
“In my opinion, this Springboks team is better than four years ago. They’ve got more experience there and that’s across the field,” he said.
“They’ve won the World Cup. They’re going to be one of the teams to beat, if not the team to beat this year.”
“Frans might have shown some instances of brilliance at inside centre but it would take a brave man to say he is better than De Villiers in this position.”
Seeing as how I am a woman…..I will state catagorically that Frans Steyn is BETTER at inside centre than JDV!!!!
JDV’s defence has been shown up at times and this is where Frans pips it for me, he is big and tackles like a demon.
Lately JDV has got into the habit (Sickness) of not passing the ball and keeps trying to bash it up!
Morné Rysmier,
Whereas I concur that we should not get ahead of ourselves… certain things clearly stand out, not only from this game BUT also coming some distance through the last number of games… and for that matter the last 2 seasons.
On Saturday there was a sudden fluency in the whole Springbok backline, due to one critical change… Fransie Steyn at inside center, where he’s played for 2 years in France and where he and Jaque Fourie also partnered one another 4 years ago in France for RWC 2007. I’ve been very critical of Frans Steyn for being included in the squad in the first place, but have to admit that I was wrong on that issue… he has shown his worth, 2 weeks in a row.
We saw less crash and bash from inside center, better distribution… and our wings getting some ball. We saw marvelous midfield defence, and a solid boot to posts from distance.
So, is Fransie Steyn better than Jean de Villiers at inside center…. the jury is out, but it certainly looks like he is. Against Namibia and Samoa Fransie should start in that position, with Lambie at fullback the whole time as well… to gel this combo… and of course to give Jean de Villiers’ rib more time to heal properly.
Is Frans Steyn a better fullback than an inside center… ultimately yes I do think so, but not this season, simply because he has played so regularly at Inside Center for Racing in France. There is also nothing wrong with Lambie at fullback, he is also one of the World’s better fullbacks at this Tournament…. so keep him there… it obviously works.
Morné Steyn even had a better attacking AND defensive game next to Frans Steyn as well… the balance was just BETTER and we need to hone or exploit this balance.
Regarding Francois Hougaard, the answer is obvious, and not only a result of one cameo on Saturday. In every Test where he’s come on as left wing sub… or even as scrummie sub… things suddenly started happening. To me it’s not a question whether Hougie should be in the STARTING 15, but rather in what position in the STARTING 15 he should slot in.
Fourie du Preez at No 9 needs to pull his socks up, he has not been brilliant, in fact he’s fumbled a bit and when he’s been better he has been GOOD but not SPECTACULAR. The same can be said about the left wing berth, Habana’s been OK (better than I expected), but just GOOD on the odd run rather than being SPECTACULAR. Habana also had a mixed bag with a couple of mistakes and fumbles.
Compare Fourie du Preez and Habana to Hougie… and the only conclusion I come to is that Hougie has been SPECTACULAR and not just GOOD. He’s willing to snipe, whether it be around a scrum or breakdown or whether it is out wide on the wing. He makes telling metres, time after time, and his option-taking has been faultless. His defence has been sublime.
Where would I play Hougie… I’m starting to lean heavily towards playing him at scrummie, for the next 2 games, with the roles reversed… Fourie du Preez on the bench to come see if he can make an impact in the last 20 minutes, similar to the one Hougie makes.
Hougie is either our best or second best scrumhalf for this tournament, considering how crap Ruan Pienaar has been, and as far as I’m concerned, they can ship Ruan back to South Africa or Ulster or wherever… just do not let him come near the Bokke side again. Pienaar has been the worst Bok in 2011 and on tour by some margin.
With Morné Steyn as the incumbant flyhalf and the luxury of having Pat Lambie and Frans Steyn (who both could fill the flyhalf berth in unusual circumstances), I really do not see the need to play Butch, even as a bench option, therefore see no reason why he should start against Namibia or Samoa.
Both Butch and Pienaar must be flown back to SA urgently before PDV tries and plays them!!!
For me I would start with Hougie at Scrummie with FDP on the bench, I can guarentee he will be an excellent impact player should that happen.
I would start with Ndungane on wing and should he need to bbe subbed, move Hougie to wing and FDP from bench on scrummie, although if Habs came off the bench he too might start making a telling impact as sub, dont know, just feel that he is not on par and we need the best to pull this one off guys!!!
I watched parts of the game again.
Frans was very good, but a massive contribution to this was the different approach by both FDP and Morne Steyn.
FDP, from memory, did not kick the ball once in this game. Morne clearly took the ball much flatter on attack putting his outside backs on the front foot.
I have no problem giving Frans credit, he had a great game, but for my money, a vastly improved performance by Morne had a hell of a lot to do with it.
Great performance, but as Morne pointed out, this is Fiji, and this the result we should have expected, but, because of the bad game against Wales, the way the Bokke played made the win that much sweeter.
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