Morné Steyn
South African coach Heyneke Meyer dished out a swipe at the ongoing criticism of Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn.
The 55-Test veteran was a pivotal player in the Boks’ 38-16 (5 tries to 1) demolition of Wales in Durban at the weekend, but still haven’t convinced his detractors that he is the real deal.
Not only did he produce a 100 percent goal-kicking performance (5 conversions and a penalty), but the 37 times he handled the ball he kicked just 10 times – with 21 passes and 6 runs.
The Bok coach, Meyer, pointed out that the high attrition rate among flyhalves makes Steyn an even more valuable asset to the national team.
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Patrick Lambie is only expected to return in July after undergoing surgery for a pectoral muscle injury, while Marnitz Boshoff rolled his ankle at training in Cape Town recently.
Added to that Johan Goosen his knee at the weekend and is also in doubt for the return Test against Wales in Nelspruit this coming Saturday.
When Goosen left the field in the second half in Durban, minutes after replacing Steyn, Ruan Pienaar stepped into the flyhalf spot and performed admirably.
Meyer admitted that even with his depleted resources he has “options” at No 10.
“It is a pity that Johan Goosen was injured,” Meyer said, adding that Steyn remains a valuable asset to the team.
“Morné has always been written off here,” the Bok mentor said, adding: “When he didn’t play regularly for Stade Francais in France, they said it was the end of Morné.”
“We scored 6 tries with him at flyhalf last week and this match we scored 5 tries against a world class defensive team.”
The coach said Steyn “ticked all the boxes” and was “awesome” in the way he controlled the game.
“His goal-kicking was superb and I think it was a total performance by Morné.”
“He is up there with the best in the world.”
Describing the 29-year-old as a “true character” and a “true warrior”, Meyer expressed his admiration for the manner in which Steyn continues to confound his critics.
“We were a bit under pressure, with all the flyhalves that are injured,” Meyer said, adding: “Morné always plays well for the Boks and I am very proud of him.”
With South Africa Under 20 captain Handré Pollard involved in the IRB Junior World Championship – where the Baby Boks will play their England counterparts in the Final in Auckland, New Zealand, on Friday – Boshoff is likely to come into the selection frame as Steyn’s understudy if Goosen is ruled out.
Another player who came in for special praise from the Bok coach is Jan Serfontein, who started at centre for the first time – after getting his first nine caps off the bench.
“They have some big ball carriers and I though Jan was superb,” Meyer said.
“He has never played alongside JP at centre,” the coach said, adding that – given the new combination – he felt the Bok defence was awesome.
“I wasn’t happy about the 1 try.”
“That is a non-negotiable for us.”
“We could have scored 2 or 3 more tries, but I would take 5 tries to 1 in any conditions against any country.”
“We said, for us to play well Jan must defend well and I thought he was awesome.”
But the physio’s are crying in Durbanville…. 🙁
After trailing for 70 minutes, Belgium has at last turned things around.
2-1 v Algeria
Stormersboy wrote:
Shame, they’ve been working non stop on the bloke for 3 years, only to see him pack and go somewhere else.
Talk about a fruitless exercise.
Musing on Zoomer’s state of the union address I am reminded of John Maudlin’s Hemmingway quote
“How do you go bankrupt?”
“Gradually at first, then suddenly”
@ MacroBok:
Does that prick get paid for his show?
Typical low life Jock.
@ Charo:
hehe he is a bit rough, he is on a tv show called mock the week, he really does push the envelope though. He is damn sharp though.
sorry i was busy typing then got distracted.
@ MacroBok:
Can’t get a laugh over jokes about mutilated soldiers.
Sorry.
@ Charo:
Some of us felt the same way about your Serena Williams “Silverback ” joke, we couldn’t see the funny side either.
are you as much of a wimp in real life?
Springboks – 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.
@ nortierd:
pretty predictable team
The Facebook mense and tjarks will be pissed of about wynsnd olivier though
MacroBok wrote:
Yep, I saw some negative comments about Timotei.
They miss the irony in that if their precious didn’t drop the Boks then Wynand wouldn’t even have gotten a call up.
They are saying poor Sithole, what more must he do?
@ nortierd:
honestly. What has he done? Does he score tries? What does he do?
farking idiots. We have massive injury troubles at center.
MacroBok wrote:
Precisely, he must be given time first.
Some bloggers fail to see that the point of inviting players to a Bok camp is to immerse them in the culture of the Boks and to see what things are about.
I saw some comments about Ham wasting his time by calling him up and now selecting Wynand etc.
You know the type, can’t see the big picture type bloggers.
A more than adequate side to smash Wales again, nothing more than that needed for now
@ nortierd:
137
Ham = HM
@Macrobok
The one thing that this shows us is that Frans is worth 2 players, Jan to play crashball and Wynand for the “image”
😀
@ nortierd:
I’m getting sick of it. Every week people complain about these “joke selection” and “heyneke lost the plot”.
I wish these people would just fark off. This isn’t Harry viljoen that gave in to all public demand and the boks got humiliated.
sure the could be one or two contentious selections, but to find fault with the whole yam is ridiculous
Hehehe – interesting
To cut a long story short I managed to somehow mess-up when joining R-T’s Junior World Cup Pool & only ended up in “Australia Fans” as a result.
Whilst perusing the 374 fans on the Leaderboard there this morning I came across the following contestants:
Kaalvoet
AusieBlouBok (eat your heart out, GBS)! 😆
Marius
Soutie
Oorlog April
Drolletjie3
Wys Jou Muis
Joburg
Zuma
Frikkie
Mzilikazi
Swys
De La Rey
Jaco de Wet
Sharky
Ausiboytji
Zebra
Wynand
Didn’t check their Profiles but presumably are all/mostly ex-pats?
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Chicken runners you mean?
@ gunther:
Wise & intelligent & have the means would be a better explanation in my book.
And no “conspiracies” in place there: Kaalvoet, Marius, Soutie & Oorlog April are all in the Top-10…Kaalvoet is running third!
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Are you telling me you aren’t wise and intelligent and don’t have the means ?
😆
@ gunther: Shhhhh, I’m trying to score brownie points with the immigration Bruces!
BrumbiesBoy wrote:
Maybe you are lucky and those immigration Bruces will be like the socceroo’s goalie tonight playing the Dutch. In that case they will let everything in
@ Charo:
When was the last time you walked into a black bar with your Pommy mates and started with the Silverback jokes tough guy?
Next you’ll be telling us to watch out for the “chinks” who are colonizing Africa, after the wonderful job the Europeans did, but they were white so it was ok. Oops you already told us that, beware the Chinks and Silverbacks we know best.
@ NZINCHINA:
hehe do you think you will take england this weekend?
@ MacroBok:
I’d like to think we can, man for man we are better and except for the Bokkie we rarely lose at home. 17 on the trot to equal the great 60’s AB side would be nice.
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