Francois Steyn's Performance against Hurricanes.

Because Steyn was so lauded for playing a good game on Saturday against the Hurricanes by Saffex - I took a look again at his performances by watching the game a second time.

I am correcting my statement by one difference as is evident by the following account-

7:03  - Steyn got the ball and passed it to Marais (only correction as to what I stated previously.

11:53 - Got ball in clear - put it under his left arm against his chest and ran about 5 meters straight at the first defender.  No intention to pass ball to anyone.  Maul ensued.

12:39 - Got ball - repeat of previous entry - had slightly less space this tiem.

13:50 -  Got the ball - ran sideway making no gain in territory and made a forward pass. scrum

35:03 - Was rear a maul - ball came out - took over the role of the scrummie and passed the ball to Lambie.

39:57 - Got ball in clear - put it under his left arm against his chest and ran about 5 meters straight at the first defender.  No intention to pass ball to anyone.  Maul ensued.

41:25 -  Got ball near maul - players outside had acres of space - but he hung onto the ball and got tackled - maul resulted.

45:50 - Got ball in clear - put it under his left arm against his chest and ran about 5 meters straight at the first defender.  No intention to pass ball to anyone.  Maul ensued.

47:57 - Was rear a maul - ball came out - took over the role of the scrummie and passed the ball to Beast

50:53 -  Got ball in clear - put it under his left arm against his chest and ran about 5 meters straight at the first defender.  No intention to pass ball to anyone.  Maul ensued - ball lost and the Hurricanes nearly score a try as a result 

63:57 -  Got ball - break a tackle and pass the ball to Perenera

72:49  -  Got ball in clear - put it under his left arm against his chest and ran about 5 meters straight at the first defender.  No intention to pass ball to anyone.  Maul ensued

73:49  -  Got ball in clear - put it under his left arm against his chest and ran about 5 meters straight at the first defender.  No intention to pass ball to anyone.  Maul ensued.

It was easy to report the above - in most cases it was a carbon copy of what Steyn did before - without any success.

His missed tackles were at 25:34 on a Hurricanes forward and at 67:32 on Savea.

The above is an absolutely clear and true description of Steyn's performance on Saturday.  Careful analysis was that none of his efforts had any real benefits for the Sharks.

He was absolutely predictable.   What can be said is that he was counter-productive in what he did and I will not be surprised if he got a tongue-lashing from White - hence the latter's public comment on hanging on to balls which should have been passed.  

My own assessment - he was shit-poor in performance - the great ball hogger - end of story.

I challenge Saffex to prove that any of the above descriptions are  wrong.              

 Bluebok

Exactly - last year he was overweight and slower than he is now - with disastrous performances.  So far this year there were no disasters such as what happened in the Brumbies game last year.   However, what he did on Saturday did have a negative impact on team performances and should not be allowed to continue.   

The worst case of unthinking rug by by a backline player I have seen for years.

 Saffex

Go and watch the game again and compare it with what I wrote above and convince me that what Steyn did was not an idiotic repetitive farce dressed up as rugby - whereas in your opinion as you stated "he had a good game deserving 7/10".

I am right - after looking at it again - he deserved 2/10 for that farce.

Saffex

Did you check the match again and studied the incidents mentioned before you wrote your latest remarks?  It is absolutely  accurate and the only shit in question here is the SHIT PERFORMANCE OF STEYN ON SATURDAY.

I thought that when I initially watch the game there was something seriously amiss in the performance of Steyn and thought that I had to watch the rebroadcast of the full match to check whether my earlier misgivings were correct.

What I saw on carefully watching and making notes of every time Steyn touched the ball and what happened is recorded above.   I was shocked beyond belief at what I saw.   What I described above was the actual recording  of what happened - whether you like it or not.

Steyn played a shocker  which was so bad it could have cost the Sharks the match.   I am therefore not surprised by the public comment of White on the issue of ball passing after the match.   What would be interesting  to see is what happens next week against the Lions - that is if Steyn actually plays in that game.   One thing is sure - he will not hog balls again in future like he did on Saturday without potential damage to his career.        

Sun Tzu

BALLS - there is a difference here - it is not the numbers it is what the Witless Hog did with the ball.   One balls up after another is just not good enough.   He will have to watch out or White will replace him.

And the numbers count - Sun Tzu - but is was not only the numbers - but other aspects of Witless Hog's play that counted more.   I am sure he got it in the neck for what he did - or better still failed to do.

How do you rate running sideways in a game, making forward passes, passing the ball to an opposition player, losing possession and allowing the Hurricanes to counter-attack and nearly score a try  - is that to be ignored.  Above all - how do you rate a player who hogs the ball when there are clearly wide open space and double overlaps outside of him.

If you can explain that as acceptable - kindly do so.    With your limited thinking on issues and flowery meaningless torrent of verbal rubbish - you may even try to find reasons for the bullshit play of Witless Hog. 

Yep good old Mike does not appreciate the subtleties of the game at all - its all just black or white.

He sees Frans take contact in traffic and he will conclude its boring crash ball stuff and that Frans is hogging the ball.

I cant take Mike seriously as he is so predictable when it comes to certain players    

Saffex

Leave the ball hogging part out - how can you accept the following as evidence of acceptable play:- 

How do you rate running sideways in a game, making forward passes, passing the ball to an opposition player, losing possession and allowing the Hurricanes to counter-attack and nearly score a try  - is that to be ignored.  Above all - how do you rate a player who hogs the ball when there are clearly wide open space and double overlaps outside of him when he deliberately ra n into traffic - with virtually no defence outside of him?

Are the above examples of good/acceptable play? 

Saffex

 What Witless Hog did was none of what you claim he did.  Running sideways with your teammates in front of you and clinging to the ball until he was forced to make a forward pass is stupid,   Fact is he was trying nothing in that case.  If any of his teammates dared move - they would have been blown up for obstruction so they had to virtually stand helpless watching whatever he was trying to achieve - they could not support him at all.   The forward pass followed from there and is also inexplicable.

Great commitment in defence accounted for a 20% missed tackle ratio.    Plenty of physicality with ball in hand produced nothing but minimal territory gain and resultant mauls - in other words he did a Morne Steyn - killed the backline play.  You do not put the ball under your arm and charged forward straight at the first defender like Witless Hog did.

The one time he broke a tackle - he followed that up by passing the ball to Perenera - I did not know Perenera played for the Sharks, but Witless Hog apparently thought so.

Who carried the ball immediately before the counter-attack by the Hurricanes - which ended up with Jane only being tackled in a desperate attempt on the Sharks 22 by SP Marais if it was not Witless Hog?

Irrespective of what you claim - he had the worst game for the Sharks imaginable and he will retain the designation Witless Hog  until he starts playing thinking rugby and stop being a bloody handicap.   Since he came back from France the only thing he tried to do is aimless and ineffective crashballing - we do not need that kind of rubbish if we want a functional backline. 

Class acts do not fuck up like he did on Saturday.

 AJ

Seriously now - I am not related to anybody in the Springbok team.    

The one thing I cannot stand in any player is stupid donkey play - matter of fact I h ate it.