Just how critical is Frans Steyn to the Boks success?

With all being said lately about Fransie with regards to his weight and pace, I notice no one leaves him out their "ideal" Bok team and we cant help but get nervous when he is not 100%.

Frans still has a lot of pace as he demonstrated in the Argies came when he beat their winger to the ball (albeit the Argies wingers are not speedsters) but that was pace enough.

Personally, I think that Frans at 12 is a must when we have Morne at 10. Morne plays so deep that we need a big, strong centre otherwise we would get caught WELL behind the advantage line everytime we tried to run the ball. Frans can carry 2 or 3 defenders and gain 5 yards.

If we play Lambie (or Goosen) at 10, we can then look at a "smaller" but quicker centre like serfontein or Jordaan. I still believe that with an attacking flyhalf, Steyn is still our best option at 12. If he can get the go forward he does from deep, imagine him getting ball on the advantage line.

Thats what makes Sonny Bill so good. He is big and strong and his flyhalf's feed him ball on the gain line and he has the strength to break the first tackle and then offload. Frans Steyn might never be Sonny Bill in the offloading sense, but he can come very close! Players like Jordaan, Taute, Hougaard, Pietersen, Habana running off him will be a nightmare for any opposition. All it will take is an attacking flyhalf!!

 Frans Steyn played much better with Butch James at flyhalf during the 2007 Worldcup. I agree that he needs a flyhalf like Goosen or Lambie to play a more flat and direct game that creates options to either go wide or back to the forwards. I do not want to get started with the usual Morne bashing but I am really looking forward to seeing a running flyhalf that can take on the opposition backline himself, and then also have a center run off him. This will be much harder to defend against and far more exiting to watch. Lets see Steyn outside Goose with Lambie also cutting the backline or coming in at first reciever off mulit-phase possesion. 

boklogic

No need to argue about that one.   Steyn did not look good when playing outside Morne Steyn - that being the reason for the amount oif criticism levelled against him.   However, when Goosen came on in the All Black game - Steyn became a different and much more effective player.

The problem is not Francois Steyn - it is Morne Steyn.   No 12 would be effective with Morne at flyhalf.    I think we would also like to see De Villiers being replaced and I assume that would happen next year.   Question remains - is Meyer going to change the team by leaving out the dead wood (ie Morne Steyn, Kirchner and De Villiers)?  

I think not and that will continue to neutralize Francois Steyn as an effective 12.

Interesting stuff. One thing for sure is that there arre many international sides doing good work and you dont even need to be the one inventing new things. Predictability is easy to defend againt anda big no no.

To me its mainly about two things. Firstly its about not dying with the ball and going to ground. By going to ground you allow the other side to regroup more easily. But then of course you need some one to pass to and that simply means better playing off the ball. After that one gets into refinements of running angles, chip kicks, using ball cariers, going wide etc etc. Still i believe that the first two items need to be addressed urgently.

I also think that in Penaar and Morne you have two player who present little threat on attack. Pienaar has grea trunning abilty but is not taking on the opposition. With Hougarrd the threat was bigger but Hougaard to date has not really flowed in the scrummie position. However , if one adopted a more  attacking mindset possibly Hougard would come inot his own at scrummie? What I question though is he the quicksilver type of quick decision needed at scrummie. Goosen, Lambie/Taute and JP will make a huge difference. Further domination in the pack by imroving the pack will also help matters in the backs.

Mallet said he thought Mone was notrunning the show and making the calls.  A flyhalf needs to b eable to make those decisions. Not sure myself what is in fact happening but Mallet suggested that the backs were only getting ball when the forwards were not making progress. He made this comment after the Argies game. We need a geberal at 10 and young as he is Goosen has to do this job.

Frankly, I see no reason why the Boks cannot be number 1 in the world but as I said, and I see Cruz agreeing, that we should see things getting better from 2013 - heck they are already looking so much better.

I never qutie know where I stand regarding F Steyn. He has all he needs to be a great, but he still lacks one thing, a calm head. His performances are too up and down for my liking. He is one of those players that is a game winner all by himself on one day, and the next he's a complete liability. It is probably partially down to his rise to fame at a very young age, and the resulting big head. Still, when I see his name on the team sheet, I feel good about it.

To be honest, it he is not the centre we should be discussing, Jean De Villiers is the one who I strongly believe should not be there. He is way past his best and is just too old. Making him captain was short sighted in my view and the sooner he is dropped, the better. In his Hayday, Jean was brilliant, but those days are long gone.