Frans Steyn 'on a mission' to play against British & Irish Lions - And boy can't we wait to see him!

Frans Steyn, on his way to the Cheetahs, wants to be a part of the Springboks' highly-anticipated series against the British & Irish Lions in 2021. 

Since winning his second World Cup in Japan last November - he also won under Jake White in 2007 - Steyn has been quiet when discussing his international future. 

Now 32, Steyn will start the latest chapter on July 1 when he officially joins the Cheetahs. 

The PRO14, when rugby does return after a global suspension at the hands of the coronavirus, will be Steyn's immediate priority but it seems he still has his sights set on representing his country. 

According to Cheetahs president Hawies Fourie, Steyn wants to play against the Lions.

"A guy like Frans wants to play against the British & Irish Lions next year, so he is not coming back to Bloem to retire," Fourie was quoted as saying in an interview with Bloemfontein-based OFM.

"He is on a mission; he wants to play in those Tests against the Lions.

"He will be in good shape, and he will be working hard. We are looking forward to Frans joining the squad and contributing to the success we want to achieve."

Steyn has amassed 67 Tests since making his debut all the way back in 2006.

From News24

Wow ...don't know of any player off-hand who has won two World Cups and beaten the Lions twice.
We had some New Zealanders bidding for three World Cups last year.

Looking back I can't find any Springbok in both the 1937 and 1949 teams that beat the All Blacks.

Pos sibly some Boks in the sixties who beat the Lions twice and All Blacks once but lost against the All Blacks again in 1965 away.

Here's some more useless info:- Border beat All Blacks in 1949 and the Lions in 1955.

If Frans has a win over the Lions, he'd be the most distinguished Bok of all time. The great Os had a Tei Nations, 2 World Cups and a Lions loss. Frans has 2 World Cups, Tri Nations, RC, Lions win. Nobody has bettered that. Add in a second Lions tour win, and he'd be pretty much untouchable. The odds of that being replicated are rather slim to say the least. 

Steyn was extremely lucky tp get into the  WC squad in 2019 - it only happened becas Serfontin and Willemse was injured and Esterhuizen failed on test level.   He was a dirt tracker and was on the bench in key matches and was rarely used in those matches,   Chances of a similar lucky  situation in the case of the Lions Tour are remote.    

Willemse was a flop. That term gets thrown around a lot, but he hasn't taken his chances. Frans has made decisive contributions every time he entered the field. 

Willemse still needs to prove he has more than a disco step to be considered as an inside back. That is in Super Rugby level, never mind for the Boks. 

He has skill, but at top level rugby he needs more space to play to his potential, perhaps at XV or else on the dance floor

I wouldn't even say Willemse haa skill. His pass is average and his kicking is poor. His defence is average. Factor in his poor ability to read play and what does he have? A wiggle? Against England in 2018, at Twickenham, the Bok pack was more dominant than in the World Cup. Watching Willemse and Damian splutter rare quality front foot ball toothlessly all game was very hard to watch. He had time and space, and he failed. And that was in his best position, fullback! Lots of question marks. He has a couple of years if maturing ahead of him. It isn't impossible for him to be a late bloomer. He simply needs to do everything much better. To compare Willemse to Frans is simply ludicrous. I don't even know why Lügnerin felt the need to go there. 

Easy  If Willemse did not return from injury only a week before the squad for the WC was announced Steyn would not have been in the squad at all.  `Easy to realize that,  Willemse would have been a better cover all round than Steyn was,  Anyway Willemse was called up to the squad the moment Kriel was injured - so the fact is that Willemse would have been in the squad at the expense if Steyn - was his recovery from injury 2 weeks earlier.

Your assessment of player performances is so deliriously idiotic that nothing else thasn your normal BS is expected in this case,     

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Frans Steyn was always going to RWC - Rassie | SuperSport

“ Posted by: clevermike (40855 posts)

Easy  If Willemse did not return from injury only a week before the squad for the WC was announced Steyn would not have been in the squad at all.  `Easy to realize that,  Willemse would have been a better cover all round than Steyn was,  Anyway Willemse was called up to the squad the moment Kriel was injured - so the fact is that Willemse would have been in the squad at the expense if Steyn - was his recovery from injury 2 weeks earlier.

Your assessment of player performances is so deliriously idiotic that nothing else thasn your normal BS is expected in this case,      “

And just like that ou Maaikie proves that he has a waaaay better understanding of assessment of player performance than AO by harping on about Willemse returning from injury. 

What has Frans Steyn done in recent years. He has simply not looked like the player he once was.

Was a great Frans fan but injuries seemed to have limited his ability to train and he has not done much. Obviously his ability to cover many positions is helpful. He will be 33 in May. Can he get fit enough to keep out Willemse? Let the best man win.