Looks like another competition with Morne at flyhalf.
I wonder if Johna Goosen will start after he overcomes his injuries- or he will just play of the bench to cover the one dimensional Morne Steyn.
Sharkbok
I do not think we always recognize the background as to the selection of Morne Steyn as flyhalf - he is not selected becaue of his abilities as an all-round flyhalf. He is in the team as the key component of the playing strategy of Meyer.
Meyer said before that South Africa do not have the players with the necessary ability to play a running back line game - and his strategy consequently is to play ten men rugby. The no 10 could be an atrocious player - provided he can catch the ball and kick it effectively. In pther words in terms of Meyer's strategy no 10 is there only to kick balls either strategically or at goal.
Morne Steyn is absolutely one-dimensional as you said - and his kicking game was indeed poor during Super 15 and in the tests against the POMS. But Meyer is not about to chamge his strategy and so Morne Steyn shall remain in the team - come hell or high water. The very poor Jantjies meet the kicking game requirements as well - that is why he is in the squad.
Now lets get to Goosen - he will only be selected for the bench provided he plays a kicking game - if not he will be out in the cold completely. In other words his selection will depend on whther he is capable and prepared to become a Morne Steyn clone. If selected - he will NOT be allowed to vary his game - as it does not fit in with the ten men rugby concept of Meyer.
It is not only me that says the above - I first heared it from Justin Marshall on the RE-Union Programme - maybe not as harshly as I put it - but that is in essence what he said. I firmly came to the conclusion that Marshall is correct - but what he added with a smile was that New Zrealand knows how to counter the strategy.
So Morne Steyn will only be replaced if he cannot kick a ball further than 20 meters - end of story. Problem is there is nothing that would change this situation - unless Steyn decides to retire from international rugby or get imjured thus forcing such change by Meyer. Even then Meyer will only select a Morne Steyn replica.
Can this work - I do not believe it can and it can only undermine rugby in SA. It is not foreseen - and was not foreseen by the Re-Union panel - that such a change in strategy will be introduced by Meyer.
Allow me to add something to what I wrote above. The above strategy of ten men rugby was used by the Bulls when coached by Meyer. It is not only the flyhalf that plays a role in that strategy - it is also the scrummie. Du Preez complied with that strategy to the "t". That is why he is so highly rated by Meyer and some others. His favourite game was to pass the ball back to his forwards - if at all possible - or to kick himself He would only pick up the ball after standing at a maul waving at the forwards to get into position so that he could pass to them. The ball will then die at the next maul and the story was repeated. That is if the mauls did not result in penalties against the Springboks or there wa no scrum awarded. getting over the advantage line was a positive - but was in fact rare, because the opposition would be in place to defend against such a play.
In those cases where the ball was passed to Morne Steyn - he would stand so far back that he could only have one option and that was to kick the ball away. If he ever could not kick - he would pass to the ball to the no 12 - who had no option. but to crash ball - mostly way behind the advantage line.
The strategy worked well for the Bulls for a while when the ball could be kicked directly into touch and against those teams where the Bulls had line out dominance. In the case of the Springboks it was mostly not working and that account for the number of losses since 2007 against all the top teams in the world.
Allow me to add also that the law change to disallow direct kicking into touch between the 22's have resulted in an excellent counter-measure. In the case of the Springboks having to throw the balls into a line-outs or scrums - the opposing wings drop back far enough to catch the ball after an aimless kick and counter-attack either by a high kick and charge or by a backline move. Ultimately the result mostly was counter-productive and to the disadvantage of the Bulls and Springboks. There was no need for the opposing wings to be in line to defend - because the strategy outcome was 100% predictable.
A further issue that I would like to deal with here is the selection of backline players other than the flyhalf. There is no development programme for development of backline playes with running talents and skills - hence the appointment of less skillful back line coaches. The straegy onlty requires from the centers and wings to defend against opposition attacks - not to attack themselves. That is why the handling skills of some of our top backline players is so poor - they cannot for instance effectively off-load balls in a tackle situation to create space for outside players.. In thsi enviroment there is no room for a skillful and talented player like Jordaan - he would never be in the frame because in Meyer's opinion he does not have the necessary skills to fit into his strategy.
As said previously I do not think the Meyer Strategy can work and I forsee increasing losses over the next two years. If he does not change the strategy - we are goimng to lose more and more tests - which may ultimtely result in changes to the strategy. I AM NOT HOPEFUL THAT HE STRATEGY WOULD EVER CHANGE BY MEYER - SO LETS ACCEPT THAT THE LOSSESS WILL MOUNT INCREASINGLY OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS.
MIke you are over reacting. Meyer has had a large influence even on this current bulle side. Please note the bulls have scored a lot of tries. The bulle game fell short this year because their pack was not strong enough - not because they lacked an attacking game ala the Stormers. They missed players like Steenkamp, Gary Botha, Bakkies and Danie Rossouw.
There is nothing wrong with the bulle backline play. Given a better pack they would have been even more dangerous.Skills improvement at Bok level is vital and hence the concern at Meyers appointenet of a rookie backline coach
You are assuming Meyer is a one trick pony bent on kicking the ball away. The bulle do NOT play 10 man rugby. Cant see what you base that on. What is strange is the bulle now have the backline but not the pack.
Need to get another lock, a tighthead, a hooker and a number 8. 4 quality forwards and they are in business.
In terms of tries the Bulle scored 50. Only the Hurricanes scored more - 58.
Chiefs, Crusaders and Sharks scored scored 47.
Now how can the bulle be a ten man team?
i dont agree with the statement on the bulls forwards sorry to say....there pack was more geered towards a more open style of play with i feel has really tried to change there dynamic of how they play. i think its a positive change that will in a year or 2 make them a powerhouse in rugby once again. there management has seen that the game has changed. they have been playing very well untill the last part of the super comp until they started to come undone more by mental fatigue more than anything else. nothing wrong with there game pattern nor there forwards. there defence was a bit leaky maybe. this biggest problem was morne's aimless kicking to possession mad teams so that might also tell a tale in regards to how defences can cope with a kicker that kicks away balls with reckless disregard. thent he bulls matched up against he pro tears on newlands the bulls were more than match for the forward obesessed no cups coetzee chargers.
we can only guess with the guys what HM chosen to what the tactics will be so i think that is more the point that mike wanted to make.
to me tactical kicking should be a option b not a option a....well if i was the coach my boys will run it even on broken glass. if there defence is good and your running attack makes not head way then employ possitive tactical kicking will only add that your cv of attack but just kicking for the sake of it will just feed the attack minded ab and wallies
Muncher get real. Kruger at tighthead?
Juandre at 110 kg and being outgunned. Spiesies underperfroming and no powerhouse hooker.
This is NOT a vintage bulle pack. Whether it will develop into one is another question of course. Willemse could solve the lock problem, Arno Botha may lift tthe looseis etc etc and who knows who next the rapacious bulle will sign!
I am not talking about another run of the mill pack I am talking about the bulle having a top notch pack. I am saying that there is nothing too much wrong with their attack as 50 tries attests to! Get that pack better and bulle are in business. They also have some serious young backline talent coming up. Jan Serfontein etc.
No the bulle problem is mainly a few weakneses in the pack. Also they must rest the overworked Morne.
Free Advice fror the bulle from the very sporting Beeno.
kruger is nothing special but capable. his is not boks material that is for sure.
juandre is not much ligther than matfield was and he is does a job. still very much in a learning curve in my view. had a decent showing against the english. the bulle only downfall was there defence as i said. they scored a lot of tries but leaked a lot of them as well. there pack did what there were meant to do. i cant recall to much that the bulls pack was on the back foot nor loosing line out after line out. the previous generation of bulls forwards was a lot more prominant but as all the other teams shows that under the new elv's a more mobile pack with a potent backline is the perfect cocktails to play rugby. there pack is not special but just goed about there duties. i doubt it will move into that way seeing that they are just changing the way how they play to suite the new elv's. which require more mobile fowards and attacking. more than slow big forwards and defence
there defence really needs a major shake up. mold there attacking play with proper defence when you have a great pattern of play. potentialy championship winning style of play. the bulls pack is more than capable in my view and many others.
Beeno
Just take two games in the Super 15 and evaluate them again. In the game against the Crusaders the Bulls never had one bckline move of note - zi;ch - zero - none. In the Sharks game they were 20 points behind and they made an effort to play with their backline - but achieved nothing really, because the player's handling skills are so poor.
Now look at the tests against the POMS. Starting with the third test - Morne kicked and kicked and kicked totally ineffectively. . The one try scored by the Springboks came about because Pienaar passed the ball directly to Pietersen.
Second test - 1 try scored through backline players, The ball went from the scrummie directly to De Villiers - who gave a flip pass to Pietersen - no involvement by Steyn. On try scored by Hougaard - the POMS were not covering him at a maul. No real backline move.
I do not believe that the position taken up by Morne allows for any effective backline attack - and there was in fact very little effective backline play in evidence.
What did Meyer himself say about back line player deficiencies in SA?????????
I agree with you about the Bulls forwards though - especially the props - they were atrocious. However, that does not stop them from getting into the Springbok squad.
Nomore Steyn.
Finish and Klaar.
