Springbok coach Peter de Villiers was a mightily relieved man after his side’s 18-5 Tri-Nations victory over the All Blacks at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
He had flyhalf Morné Steyn to thank, perhaps more than any one else.
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Last week De Villiers’ demeanour was vastly different after his side was defeated by the Wallabies in Durban.
The Boks were under the whip in the opening minutes in Port Elizabeth, but Steyn proved his match-winning ability with accurate place-kicks from just inside the All Blacks half.
The resultant timely advances fuelled the Boks’ commitment in the face of frequent first-half line breaks by the New Zealanders.
“Morné is a very good rugby player,” said De Villiers.
“He knows now that he is very important to this team and that he can take the team to the World Cup when he’s on song, like he was in this match.
“He’s still our number one [flyhalf]. I’ve never had questions about Morné.
“Sometimes you have to make these decisions, like to drop him for two games to help his development.
“I know he can take this team through a World Cup.”
The victory for the South Africans had offered great relief both for the team and the country’s supporters.
“The result will help us going forward and make people believe in this team again,” said De Villiers.
“It was a tough game but we came through this test of character.
“We were under huge pressure and it was a just reward for all the hard work.”
De Villiers said it was clear the players were starting to understand the structures that management were putting in place and said this was the reason for the Boks’ good scramble defence.
“Defence is all about teamwork and playing for each other, and the guys did that in this match,” he said.
The Springboks’ match-day captain Victor Matfield afterwards reflected on the team’s ability to play as a unit after several players had been inactive in the past few months.
“Perhaps the pleasing aspect was that this game showed we are now coming together as a team,” said Matfield.
“There is still room for a lot of improvement because we want to get even better and we have a lot of work to do between now and the World Cup.
“We’ll look at the match video on Monday and then work on the detail.
“I was impressed with the defence. There will always be line breaks, but the guys worked hard to get back and make the cover tackles in good time.”
At the World Cup and in tight games, the man with the golden boot is still what is required.
Well done Morné, for showing your real mettle!
Morne Steyn is the first to admit that two weeks of relegation from the Springbok flyhalf position literally worked wonders for him, and after his match-winning role in beating the All Blacks 18-5 in Port Elizabeth, he said that the step backwards for him had given him the fortitude to take two forward.
Now see Peter do coach…..
De Villiers said: “As a coaching staff we are pleased that we could add to Morne’s development by dropping him and making him realise how important it is to South Africa for him to be on the money every game.
:LOL: :LOL: :GRIN:
I got this idea from another site, and I think it could be fun.
The squad I would have picked, for various reasons.
Backs:
Francois Steyn, Patrick Lambie
Gio Aplon, JPP
Bryan Habana, Lwazi Mvovo
Jaques Fourie, Juan de Jongh
Jean Div
Butch James, Morne Steyn
Fourie du Preez, Francois Hougaard, Sarel Pretorius
Forwards:
Pierre Spies,
Willem Alberts, Francois Louw.
Schalk Burger, Heinrich Brussouw,
Victor Matfield, Johann Muller
Bakkies Botha, Danie Russouw
Jannie du Plessie, CJ vd Linde
Bismarck du Plessies, Chilliboy Rallepele, Ardiaan Strauss
Gurthro Steenkamp, Beast.
For the forwards:
It SUCKS that Vermeulen is out. I would have loved to have been able to pick him and let Pakslae cover 4&7. But such is the world. As far as the other number 8s in SA goes… Kanko has one cracker of a game in 5 appearances. Joshua Strauss is one for the future. In fact, next season, him and Vermeulen will be DROOLING down Spies’s neck.
Johnson, had a good season towards the end… and he can cover 7 as well. But Im not Uber convinced he has world quality.
If Louw was picked, he would combine perfectly with Burger. He is not an YSTER like Andre Venter, Juan Smith or Rassie Erasmus, but he can pilfer, carry and protect.
With Bekker out, thats another bitch for the Bokke. Matfield, Bekker, Botha en Russouw just sounds crazy good. But hey…
Props, no brainer.
Hookers. Well, you want to win right? Chilli has come right in more ways than 3. And Adriaan Strauss has great ball carrying potential and is a GREAT 1st phase hooker.
Backs:
Lambie can cover 12 and 15, Aplon can cover 14 & 15. Hougaard can cover 9 and 11, Pienaar can cover 9 and 10, F.Steyn can cover 15 & 12. Mvovo can cover 11 and 14 (played some games for the Sharks there).
Nough said.
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