Springbokke vs All Blacks : Soccer Stadium , Soweto

[The_Brown_Hornet]

In the end the All Blacks just kept coming and the Bokke tired badly in the last quarter. The body language from the South African forwards seemed to tell it all towards the end, they were absolutely buggered after defending grandly all day.

I'll give the AB's heaps of credit though, they are absolutely relentless. Even though they didn't play their best footy last night, they stayed in touch and took their chances well.

As a neutral it was still great viewing though. It will be very interesting to see how the Boks respond to it over the next two weeks. They must be a shattered outfit today.

 

[barbarian]

The one player that never gets mentioned in these post-mortems, and the one who I think is by far the worst player for the Boks, is Morne Steyn. He is a very average 10, and showed it again tonight. Kicked it dead twice, one of which was off a penalty. Never threatens the defensive line, merely shovels the ball on. Take the last play of the game- ball goes out to Steyn, who rifles a ball behind JdV who was in no position to do anything anyway. Turnover, ABs score.

His goalkicking is good, and that is the only feature of his game that is international class. He cost the ABs dearly in NZ, and has done so again at home.

 

[cyclopath]

The one player that never gets mentioned in these post-mortems, and the one who I think is by far the worst player for the Boks, is Morne Steyn. He is a very average 10, and showed it again tonight. Kicked it dead twice, one of which was off a penalty. Never threatens the defensive line, merely shovels the ball on. Take the last play of the game- ball goes out to Steyn, who rifles a ball behind JdV who was in no position to do anything anyway. Turnover, ABs score.

His goalkicking is good, and that is the only feature of his game that is international class. He cost the ABs dearly in NZ, and has done so again at home.

The Bokke had their chances - Morne Steyn was particularly useless, sort of like Barnes on a bad day - if in doubt (often) just kick it, usually poorly. If you want a back line to attack, he shouldn't be in it.

I mentioned him!!

 

[Garry Owen]

Boks were in front with 7 mins to go when they were given a penalty on there side of halfway. All they had to do was kick down the line, win their lineout throw and camp on the AB's line and run down the clock.

Instead MSteyne not only doesn't find touch, but kicks it dead. Scrum turnover, the rest - history. That was the turning point for mine. Reckon he had a few bob on the match. If he was a Paki cricketer we'd be getting the magnifying glass out.

Hang on, the Proteas love a bet too

 

[cyclopath]

Boks were in front with 7 mins to go when they were given a penalty on there side of halfway. All they had to do was kick down the line, win their lineout throw and camp on the AB's line and run down the clock.

Instead MSteyne not only doesn't find touch, but kicks it dead. Scrum turnover, the rest - history. That was the turning point for mine. Reckon he had a few bob on the match. If he was a Paki cricketer we'd be getting the magnifying glass out.

Hang on, the Proteas love a bet too

Amazed me too. there was no need for them to try to boot it all the way into the corner - a lineout 20-30m out from the AB line would have done nicely. Win it, rolling maul, try to milk a penalty, kick 3 more, game probably won. Not the time for a fancy-pants banana kick.
Not sure about any intent though - I think it was just another part of a crap game from Tuna-Mornay Steyn

 

[Hartman]

Yes he made some elementary mistakes but I don't think it's quite time to start calling him the worst player in the team just yet. There was certainly nobody saying that in the '09 Tri Nations or after game 2 of the Lions tour. The Springboks have always had a problem in the number 10 jersey - either there's a Jannie De Beer or a Braam van Straten who can only kick, or there's a Butch James who is physical and can run but is not much good for anything else. Never have we had a Larkham, our next best 10 at the moment is Peter Grant and I could see him being solid at an international level but never impressing. Morne Steyn is definitely no Larkham, but he's far from Jannie de Beer too, so for now I think we'll keep him.

 

[cyclopath]

Yes he made some elementary mistakes but I don't think it's quite time to start calling him the worst player in the team just yet. There was certainly nobody saying that in the '09 Tri Nations or after game 2 of the Lions tour. The Springboks have always had a problem in the number 10 jersey - either there's a Jannie De Beer or a Braam van Straten who can only kick, or there's a Butch James who is physical and can run but is not much good for anything else. Never have we had a Larkham, our next best 10 at the moment is Peter Grant and I could see him being solid at an international level but never impressing. Morne Steyn is definitely no Larkham, but he's far from Jannie de Beer too, so for now I think we'll keep him.

Well, I thought he was close to, if not the worst player last night for the Bokke. Does that mean he is consistently the worst? No. Should you drop him? Depends on the game plan the coaches want to play - if they want to go to relentless bombing, then sure. He is not likely to deliver them another style of play.

 

[barbarian]

I mentioned him!!

Sorry Cyclo, I stopped reading your posts years ago

 

[Gnostic]

I thought the ref worked hard early to ping the ABs for their usual range of infringements but didn't continue with it.
McCaw is just so smart with the way he plays the referee. eg when he deliberately slowed the ball when the boks were right on their line. He KNEW he wouldn't be carded for it so he took the illegal option, saved the try and gave up only a penalty. It's this kind of smart play that saves the ABs maybe 1 try a game and pushes them ahead of other great teams.

Even the NZ commentators (the same ones who had been protesting that the ABs didn't cheat and were just ahead of the game) were saying how great Mcaw was and how he just saved a certain try by stopping the ball coming oput when the Boks had a five on two overlap.

The Boks tried to do the ABs counter ruck game but on too many occassions went straight to ground.

IMO the biggest factor in the AB win was the substitution of Juan Smith. I know he was out on his feet but the ABs really got extra go forward when he went off. Burger offers nothing to compare with J. Smith.

 

[Blue]

Even the NZ commentators (the same ones who had been protesting that the ABs didn't cheat and were just ahead of the game) were saying how great Mcaw was and how he just saved a certain try by stopping the ball coming oput when the Boks had a five on two overlap.

The Boks tried to do the ABs counter ruck game but on too many occassions went straight to ground.

IMO the biggest factor in the AB win was the substitution of Juan Smith. I know he was out on his feet but the ABs really got extra go forward when he went off. Burger offers nothing to compare with J. Smith.

Burger is being asked to play a game that does not suit his best attributes ie ball carrier, linking play and sweeper in defense.

He was sublime at times in the Super 14. He is being required to play towards the ball which is not his best game.

Spies is the problem. He currently offers nothing at international level.

 

[Sully]

We'll swap you for Dick Brown!

 

[Hartman]

On another note it annoyed me to no end that the commentators kept calling Morne Steyn Francois Steyn, and then when he referred to Jannie du Plessis as Francois Du Plessis, I just lost it.

 

[Muttonbird]

On another note it annoyed me to no end that the commentators kept calling Morne Steyn Francois Steyn, and then when he referred to Jannie du Plessis as Francois Du Plessis, I just lost it.

Kind of like SA commentators calling Nonu, "Noonoo"?

Yes, very annoying.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yes he made some elementary mistakes but I don't think it's quite time to start calling him the worst player in the team just yet. There was certainly nobody saying that in the '09 Tri Nations or after game 2 of the Lions tour. The Springboks have always had a problem in the number 10 jersey - either there's a Jannie De Beer or a Braam van Straten who can only kick, or there's a Butch James who is physical and can run but is not much good for anything else. Never have we had a Larkham, our next best 10 at the moment is Peter Grant and I could see him being solid at an international level but never impressing. Morne Steyn is definitely no Larkham, but he's far from Jannie de Beer too, so for now I think we'll keep him.

Henry Honiball was a very good player from memory.

 

[Hartman]

Henry Honiball was a very good player from memory.

Very true, how could I forget Lem Honnibal. The exception to the rule...

 

[cyclopath]

Kind of like SA commentators calling Nonu, "Noonoo"?

Yes, very annoying.

Or indeed Nisbo calling Kaino Muliaina!! I mean, there is a slight size differential!!

 

[Muttonbird]

 

[Lee Grant]

Very true, how could I forget Lem Honnibal. The exception to the rule...

Yeah, Lem could play. He wasn't exactly the traditional SAffer flyhalf like Bennie Osler or Naas Botha who stood so deep flankers couldn't touch them. Morne Steyn is of that mold also. Even though the laws have changed since the days of those old timers it's as though Botha and the ghost of Osler are talking to Morne, warning of the risks.

Lem was more like a 12 that played at 10. He didn't have the skill set of Bernie Larkham but like him he loved to run with the ball when it was on. He liked his back line to play flat with him, so that he could pass the ball to them just before the tackle line - and if they aimed for the gap in it before they got the ball, as flat backline rugby prescribed, great things could happen.

I'm not sure that South African fans understood his play, and sometimes his team mates looked puzzled, but everyone knew that something good was happening. Maybe folks didn't fully appreciate that it wasn't just coach Mallet that changed things, but when they looked back after that run of consecutive victories and Lem eventually left the scene, the penny dropped about how good that tall guy with the 10 jersey was.

When they looked for the next guy who could play like Lem could there was nobody there and nobody like Larkham either.

I fear the Boks at any time, especially over there, but if they found another Lem I would toss and turn in bed and think of goblins that went bump in the night. He was made for the modern game.

 

[Blue]

image

What is your point or are you just being wanky?

 

[Blue]

Butch James was the closest we got to Lem. A very poor man's Lem though.

One rule interpretation change has completely changed the role Steyn needs to play and I really think he is struggling and will continue to struggle. Having said that, he has been doing the stuff that he usually does well pretty badly as well. Most notably the two terrible kicks that lost us an attacking opportunity. He will start at Loftus though.

Many people in SA are quietly watching the development of Patrick Lambie. Looks promising.