Morne Steyn blames the Bulls for his monotonous style of play

 ex supersport arcticle:

Steyn arrived at the Bulls as a running flyhalf, but was sucked into their more conservative style of play, something he is trying to shrug off at the moment to become a more complete player.

Morne said “I decided myself that it was something I wanted to do. I really didn’t have too much option in the past, and it was rather monotonous to play that way. I wanted to be able to move with the ball more, to run a bit flatter and I have started that. I feel it is one of the most important and correct decisions I’ve ever taken in my career.”

Steyn knows all too well that Johan Goosen, the Bloemfontein wunderkid, is snapping at his heels. But he isn’t likely to give up his jersey too quickly.

“I rate Johan – he’s a fantastic young player and really had an unbelievable first year. But he has time and he needs more experience. It is important not to throw him in at the deep end too early. 

Sharkbok

This is interesting reading - but there are two questions here, namely -

*   How is Morne going to adjust his game - with the two coaches that has been instrumental in introduction d the "monstrous" form of rugby are now in charge  of the Springboks?

*  After playing for years the mentioned "monstrous" form of rugby - will he be able to change the drilled-in form of rugby at this stage of his career?

Goosen is obviously the threat and after recovering from injury he is starting to play again this coming Saturday.    There has been some signs in the first two tests against the POMS and on Saturday that he was trying to change his game by kicking less and trying to run the ball more - but in the POM tests his kicking game was poor - whilst although his strategic and goal kicking has improved in the Argentina test - his passing game was still not improved toa lebel it eould have been really effective.   In the Argentina test he tried the passing game - but he has a long way to go to be an effective pivot that can vary his game and make him less predictable.

For Morne I hope the envisaged improvement works out as envisaged by him.   However, he cannot be alone in introducing a more flowing game plan.   He is for that largely dependent on the service he gets from his scrummy.   On Saturday it was noticeable that the moment Pienaar replacced Hougaard the passing game became more in evidence and more effective.   I believe that Saturday also proved once again that Hougaard is a better player at wing than as a scrummie.   

The other issue is who is playing at 12.   On Saturday Morne's  was completely jeopardized by Francois Steyn who on Saturday played a very poor game and unless he becomes more effective and takes his proper place in a more fluent game - a change by Morne will come to nothing.   Insofar as th other center is concerned - we all know that De Villiers is not a longer term prospect and that somebody else is to take over from him in the next 18 months.   I believe the right choice would be Jordaan - but the names of Engelbrecht and Taute have also been mentioned.   To my mind Jordaan is much more skillful than the other two and he should be the choice. 

A running game by Morne would have to go hand in hand with a better service by the scrummie and the ability to handle such a change by the centers - so those issues also remain questions to be answered,

   .  

well if he understand where his faults are and is trying to evolve into a more complete player then the coaches and management need to understand this and allow him to express himself. the coaches however are not known for creating that type of playing enviroment where the players can have the skills and confidence to play more openly.

the backs needs quicker cleaner ball and the rest will up to them. that being said he needs to really work very very hard on this passing skills. the speed and width on his passes is not up to standard but that goes without saying for the rest of that inside channel in the backline. frans can if he wants or is allowed to. he has done it before.

the boks really need a proper attacking coach/skills consultant. just to help them pull the running lines better and work on set moves. NONE OF THOSE BULLS SCISSOR MOVES PLEASE....those moves are so easy to read even stevie wonder can spot it from a mile away

I am not too sure that I agree with you Muncher. yes, Heyneke Meyer was the one who won the S14 with that style of play, but he left after 2007, and although people like to give him the credit for the 2008 and 2010 S14 titles, we have to bear in mind that Frans Ludeke was actually the coach and Heyneke was out of the fold for quite some time, and when he got back he was not involved in any of the teams directly.

My thoughts are that although the "10-man game" has always been pretty much typical of N Tvl/Bulls rugby, he sort of "perfected" it and had great success with it, and PDV tried to follow it as well, with a small margin of success. What I do believe is that HM is inovative enough to "find something new" that he can trump the rest with, and that is probably not going to happen very soon. I have often said, over the last two/three years that we have to forget about the RWC and our goal should be to dominate world rugby, and the RWC will sort itself out. That is why I was relieved when HM got the job eventually and then said that that was his goal. Now call me a sucker, but I am prepared to give him the benefit and see what happens.

He started off in a total different way than PDV who wanted to immediately change everything and go run everybody off their feet with his exapansive game plan, which failed dismally in his first year. And remember PDV had a yound squad of RWC Champs at his disposal. HM has said, right from the beginning that he will not just jump in and change everything. He has said on many occasions that he would bring in changes, that needs to be brought in, in good time.

Yes, we did not demolish the Argies, and we might possibly not even do so this weekend either, but I would rather see us getting ouyr rythm and everything that goes with it against the Argies. The Aussies had their first taste of the RC against the AB's and rather them than us. I am (hope as well, maybe) that we will be more than man enough by the time we face the AB's.

 guys Morne has to be on song, regardless of how he plays. He needs to put the ball over for 3 pointers. As to us dominating the Argies. I am of the pragmatic phylosophical viewpoint. what works works. no matter if we win by 100 or 1 winning is winning. I would rather win than lose. so if we don't dominate but win i am happy. If we do dominate and they score 2 or 3 lucky tries and we lose i am unhappy. simple equation really, Win no matter how, just win. 

We can debate the way that Morne is out of form or what impact it will have ad nausuem it will never change. If he is picked he has my support. He needs to be in form and he needs to perform. He stepped up this weekend past, I am glad, I hope he does it again and again.

As to the fact that he changed at the Bulls. i don't know who to blame for that, but i can tell you one thing, he played inside centre for Free State schools, and few kids can pass wrong footed. Yes correctly he was a running inside cente before he moved to the Bulls. Not sure if he converted to Flyhalf there or at school already.

fair comment ceradyne thanks for your great post as always

to be fair my comment was a bit more tongue in cheek but the points that you make are 100% valid. i never said that we need to run from everywhere. running from everywhere is just as ineffective as trying to play 10 man rugby for 80 min...its all about balance and long term plans that can create great results. development is paramount. if one sees proper progression then the results will take care of themselves. HM has uttered some very poor statments in the past and that has caused a outcry and rightfully so.

statements like we dont have the backs ot compete ext does not give the level of confidence that we can break the shackles of this woefull playing style that we are forced to watch year on year. its a huge insult to the backline players even though they are not coached correcly

as i have said before the real tests will come against the AB and wallies so i have left my real comments and thoughts after that. if we show some intend and play to that then i dont think there will be one supporter that will feel like he or she has been cheated on some level.