There has been so much written about Francois Steyn and how wonderful his performances were. Now it is back to reality time and time to look at his actual performances - as substantiated by the ESPN stats.
Steyn
0/1
34
18/26/35
60
0
10
0
11
30/9
0/0
7
0/0
Positives
There can be no doubt that Steyn's kicking at goal was excellent.
He had a good game against the Bulls first time around and did some really good work - amongst others playing a crucial part in one try scored by the Sharks
Negatives
Ball handling
Steyn handled the ball 79 times in the 5 matches played
He kicked the ball 18 times - 22,8%
He carried the Ball 35 times - 44.3%
Passed the ball 26 times - 32,9%
Smith has a tendency to pass less than one-third of the balls he handled. There is a definite tendency not to pass balls and some of his passes were inaccurate and his kicks aimless.
Hid ball handling is consequently showing some inability to read games and a tendency to hog balls as well.
Territory gained in ball carries
He carried the ball 35 times for a territory gain of 50 meters over the advantage line. That represent a territory gain of 1,71 meters per carry.
He normally put the ball under one arm and runs straight at the first defender - with very little to show as a result.
Totally ineffective is the best way to sum this aspect up.
Line Breaks and Defenders beaten
During the whole series thus far Steyn -
* made no line breaks; and
* beat 10 defenders in 5 games
The stats indicate a very ineffective player with a great physique - but very ineffective in applications.
Off-loading of Balls
Mozart has great praise for Steyn's ability to off-load ballls in tackle situations - but in five games carrying the ball 35 times he only made 2 off-loads = which really does not show any capacity as to off=loading of balls.
At best ineffective in off-loading balls.
Loss of ball possession
In 5 games Steyn lost possession of the ball 11 times - ie more than 2 balls per game.
Totally unacceptable
Tackling data
Steyn in total in five games made 30 tackles in the five games played and he missed 9 tackles.
His missed tackle ratio is 23.07% - which is at least 13% higher than an acceptable figure of 10%.
He was further ineffective on a number of occassions where players ran around him - with no effort on his part to effect a tackle.
Penalties given Away
Giving away 7 penalties in five games is totally unacceptable
Summary
A very good gal kicker - but decidedly under-performing in virtually all other aspects of the game.
If goal kicking is the only requirement for selection - fine, but unfortunately the negatives far outweigh the positives in this case.
