Super XV 2013 - Francois Steyn

"If you think the useless Steyn was messed around by Plumtree you must be kidding.  Plumtree made Steyn captain at the start of the season and Steyn produced nothing."

"Steyn was fat and unfit with the speed of a snail. His defence was hopeless and his attacking consisted of crashballing. The first game against the Cheetahd was not bad - the subsequent games against the Stormers and Kings were bad and the one against the Brumbies was a disgrace." - CleverMike

Michael, Steyn was playing fine rugby before he got dropped. In fact, he was one of the two or three most consistently industrious players in the team; even acting as a powerful loose forward at the breakdown! Why then be dropped? Plum made a huge gaff, but persisted with Bosman who could not provide the same power and front foot ball as Frans. We saw Frans pop up at outside centre to boot. But he was then dropped for two other players who played even worse! In Frans' career at the Sharks he has been played at 10, 12, 13, 14, 11, 15 - never being allowed to settle in a position and with many a broken promise. In fact, the more I review 2013 the more I am filled with disgust for Plumtree. The man was cut from the very same rag as Muir, and never knew how to manage his players. But even under these circumstances, and even playing outside Lambie in the the joint worst backline setup of the South African sides he provided substance. It would have been a joy to see Frans outside Butch rather than Lambie, alas it was not to be. But with Jake undoubtedly comes better times. This will be the first time since 2007 that the Sharks have had any quality coaching, and I see big things for Frans. Even Lambie can't screw this one up!

Steyn v Cheetahs

K-P-R: 0-7-8
Metres Run: 23
Clean Break: 1
Defenders Beaten: 2
Offloads: 2
Turnovers: 2
Tackles: 5/0
Penalties: 1

Steyn v Stormers

K-P-R: 4-6-6
Metres Run: 33
Clean Break: 1
Defenders Beaten: 1
Offloads: 0
Turnovers: 0
Tackles: 11/0
Penalties: 0

Steyn v Kings

K-P-R: 3-10-7
Metres Run: 28
Clean Break: 0
Defenders Beaten: 2
Offloads: 4
Turnovers: 0
Tackles: 2/0
Penalties: 0

Steyn v Brumbies

K-P-R: 2-4-11
Metres Run: 48     *most by a Shark in the game
Clean Break: 0
Defenders Beaten: 1
Offloads: 2
Turnovers: 2
Tackles: 10/3
Penalties: 1

Steyn v Rebels (Bench)
K-P-R: 3-4-5
Metres Run: 57     * Bosman made 13 in 4 runs in 45 minutes of play
Clean Break: 0
Defenders Beaten: 1
Offloads: 0
Turnovers: 2
Tackles: 3/0
Penalties: 0

Steyn v Cheetahs #2 (Bench)

K-P-R: 0-4-4
Metres Run: 4
Clean Break: 0
Defenders Beaten: 4
Offloads: 2
Turnovers: 0
Tackles: 2/1
Penalties: 0

Steyn v Chiefs

K-P-R: 1-5-10
Metres Run: 29
Clean Break: 0
Defenders Beaten: 3
Offloads: 2
Turnovers: 0
Tackles: 3/1
Penalties: 0

Steyn v Highlanders (@13)

K-P-R: 0-2-4
Metres Run: 0
Clean Break: 0
Defenders Beaten: 0
Offloads: 1
Turnovers: 1
Tackles: 7/3
Penalties: 0

Sun Tzu

What about the games against the  Kings and the Brumbies - which conveniently you did not mention at all.   That was before he was dropped because of gross unfitness and stupid rugby.   

However, the way you look at rugby consistently is a misdirection of fact - and in this case you are again misunderstanding what is happening on the field of play.   In any  event - anyone who says the hapless and clueless Morne Steyn - who cannot make the starting line up od Stade Francais on a regular basis - is a good flyhalf, will say Francois Steyn is a good center.          

Sun Tzu

Let us get this straight - what grunt did Steyn provide in the Brumbies game?   He missed tackle after tackle in thee early part of the game - three in fact - all of which preceded tries scored by the Brumbies.  

He crashballed the few balls that he received in the first half and on at least one case he was isolated and it resulted in a penalty to the Brumbies. 

Then came the second half.   The Sharks tried to attack and had the ball in hand in the Brumbies 22.   What did Steyn do?   He kicked the ball straight into the hands of the Brumby full back - who called a mark.   End of a very promising attack by the Sharks.

That was the final straw - after that Steyn was benched and that was the end of him at center.    

Allow me to quote one of your wild statements:-

"Do you understand what that means? It means he provides the Sharks with penetrative route 1 ball-carries getting the attack in behind the defensive wall. Couple that with his knack for the offload and you have a rather useful weapon."

I fully understand what it meant - but Steyn apparentl did not.   He handled the ball 17 times in that game and the result was as followsL-

*  Kicked the ball away aimlessly to hand over possession to the Brumbies =  2

*  Passed the ball                                                                                   =  4

*  Off-loaded the ball by dropping it back to nobody                                  =  2

*  Crashballed                                                                                        =  9

During the whole game he beat ONE defender.   What does the above mean?   There were NO Attack of the Sharks that Steyn did not foul up completely.

Writing things that never happened on the field of play is the easiest way to write praise songs about players.   But praise songs does not take away factual performances.

By the way - I checked the info on another story by you about Goosen's defence and statistically his defence was better than Morne Steyn's.  Goosen only played in four Super 15 games last year - so I took those matches and the first four matches Steyn played in and found that his tackle stats were more favourable than that of Steyn.  Goosen's missed tackle ratio was 11,1% - Steyn's 13,8%.   The Steyn percentage was actually comparatively good in those matches compared to what he achieved in the Championship - where his missed tackle ratio was 19,4%. 

Look - I know you mean well and you are fully entitled to express your opinion on this site - but it is better to base arguments on facts - not imaginary fiction and fluency in language usage.      

Saffex

Sorry - I admit I know less of rugby than you do, but I do not wear blinkers and I can see when a player does fuck all on the field of play.   And I do not accept make-believe stories of performance ei ther. 

Saffex

Poor Sun Tzu tried to get the ESPN stats to prove how good Steyn was - but then got it wrong.  He spoke about turnovers - where in fact Steyn caused loss of possession of the ball by the Sharks  because of poor play by him.  He mentioned penalties without indicating he conceded penalties.   He spoke of tackles stats - but do not consider missed tackles as a liability.   

The meters gained was a farce.  Carrying the ball 48 meters sounds great = but not that great if he beat only one defender in the whole game and ended up  carrying the ball 11 times.   In other words he in fact got tackled by the first defender after running with the ball 4,2 meters and in those cases - bar the two poor offloads and the two losses of possession - he crashballed 7 times,   Totally ineffective in fact.  

Streyn was shit poor and it was all over the local media.   Do you think that Plumtree would have dropped him if he was any good?   Plumtree may be poor - but he was not suicidal.  If he kept Steyn at that stage - he would have been fired earlier. 

This reminds me of your skewed opinion of Graeme Smith as an innings builder in ODI's .   Smith used to be a good ODI player - over the last year he was shit poor.   Even where he built innings he as doing so at a run rate of between 45% and 53%,   That caused us to lose most matches he played in.   You said innings building should be at 65% - he never achieved that.   Matter of fact the following were better innings builders than Smith- 

*   De Kock

*   Du Plessis

*   Amla

Despite your ravings we are lucky - it is indeed unlikely Smoth would in future make the ODI side.       

 Sun Tsu

Just one thing - I do not hate any players and am not embittered.   What I do not like is to credit players with achievements - especially if those "achievements" are not in evidence in games.  Also if the so-called achievements are counter-productive and detrimental to the team performances as a whole.

You mentioned a number of players - inter alia the two Steyn's, Alberts, and some other players by name.   First of all I have never advocated the replacement of Flip and Du Preez - what I did say is that Du Preez -

* is really the only option available at present;

* is not operating on the same level he was two years ago; and

* needs an understudy to be developed to replace him in future.

Insofar as Francois Steyn is concerned - like everyone else I was delighted when he returned from Europe to play rugby in SA - especially also for the Sharks.  I was after the first two tests against England in June 2012 severely disappointed by Steyn's  very poor performances.   He was worse than Wynand Olivier - who replaced him in the third test.   That was followed by the tests in the RC in 2012 - where Steyn played in the first four tests and was even worse than he was previously in the June tests.   He crashballed all the time, virtually never passing balls and missed tackles like it was unbelievable and his kicking game was a farce.

Steyn was injured before the home RC game against Australia - after the Springboks lost badly against them in Brisbane.  The game was an eye-opener - for a first time in years we saw some real 15 man rugby - Morne was thankfully also absent.   Be it as it may - despite your misinterpreted stats - most people saw that Steyn was disappointingly  poor in Super 15 last year and that is a fact.

Insofar as Morne is concerned I have said time and again that there is not a more robotic flyhalf in world rugby than Morne.   He never reads games properly - passes balls he should kick and kicks balls he should pass - in other words his decision making is sub-par.   A typical example was the play leading up to the second Messam try in the Ellis Park test.  In 2012 Morne's goal kicking was atrociously poor - to his credit he improved on that in 2013.   However, that improvement was off-set by his deterioration in defence - in the RC his missed tackle ration was 19,4% - which is about 8 to 10% too high - and his line kicking from penalties became a farce.  I have always looked at both Morne's all round performance as confirmed by stats and it is not a pretty picture.  Since he never himself attacks the gain line the opposition takes preventative action which essentially is influenced and made more easy by that deficiency.   The deficiencies  in Morne's  performances is emphasized by the fact that he struggle to make the starting line-up  of Stade Francais and they hope they can get him right to play better in future.   I doubt very much that at age 30 they would be able to change the one-dimensional game he always played.

The only other change I would like to see is Sloth Alberts - the most over-hyped player

in SA.   His huge reputation is about mighty ball carries which consists of some carries for about 2 meters per carry - he never breaks tackles and being clumsy is easily tackled by the first defender.   He miss virtually all crucial tackles - like the Read tackle at Ellis Park and is of no use in breakdown ball recovery and line out play. 

Even in the CC games I specifically noted down every time Alberts and Steyn touched the ball or attempted a tackle and found nothing to write home about.  Sterun made one strong tackle on De Allende and for the rest did near to zero.   Alberts carried the ball 4 times without noticeable effect and missed more attempted tackles than he made.

Whereas Francois Steyn and Alberts can make it in Super 15 this year is a thing to prove that only they can do - nobody else.   One can but hope for the best - but I have my doubts about Alberts - he routinely under-performs in Super 15 because he is slow and some regards him as lazy.   Morne is obviously under-performing at Stade Francais already.

There is not "a host of other players" I do not like.  As a matter of fact I only believe  it would help to improve in performances of the Springboks if they replace Morne Steyn, Fourie and Alberts - the rest are just fine. .             

Sun Tzu

Predictable crashballing is a nightmare - it is the easiest way to lose control of the ball - and the best way to neutralize a backline.   Steyn rarely pass balls and in cases where he was in open space he made sure he ran into traffic and crashballed.  

You mentioned that the ball recovery was poor and it is understandable.   Although Spies has the pace - he is not capable of ball recovery in breakdown situations.   Alberts never arrives in time to fulfil that function and loiters around behind mauls in any event.   It was left to Coetzee to try and recover balls,  which virtually on his own without support from other loosies he was not able to do.

The problem with Morne is that he never attacks the gain line and he consequently is ignored by defenders.   He also stood so deep in the pocket and by the time he gets the ball and passes it the loosies, and center of the opposition is well on their way to defend against Steyn in the unlikely event that he may get the ball in a pass from Morne.   Being slow and unthinking Steyn constantly ran into them and the crashball proceeded normally behind the gain line - slowing down the joining of the ruck by loosies and other forwards n any event - they must first get on side and then join the ruck.

Franscois Steyn never beat defenders in the 2012 tests and never made a significant line break at all - I may have missed it - though I doubt it very much.    

Be it as it may - there can be no doubt that in the English tests in 2012 - and in the RC last year we had a serious case of "dead backline syndrome",   Our backline was there to defend only and they achieved nothing at all from Morne's play and Steyn's crashballing.   Even if you believe otherwise - you need a backline for attacking rugby as well - and there was NONE.      When both were missing in the Pretoria trest against the Aussies the whole scenario changed and for once there was some attacking  backline play in evidence.

The secret of backline play is variation and there was none forthcoming from the Steyn's.  

You laud his defence - but the lasting memory I have from Steyn in the one English test was when he was to make a relieving kick and the ball rolled on the ground towards the Springbok's 22 - putting virtually the whole Springbok team off-side;  Ity was the easiest try the English ever scored in international rugby.   It could have been forgotten as a one-off problem - if the same did not happen in the Mendoza test as well.  

Look I have no problem with Francois Steyn as a player - but then he must be seen to perform.   Without actual and not mythical performance - he should bot be in any team.   I am looking forward to him showing some abilities for the Sharks this year = if he does good luck to him.  If he repeats what he did in 2012 and 2013 - he will cause more problems than he would be able to solve.

He will have a quick fire flyhalf next to him on Saturday in the person of Swiel.   If the backline goes dead and if Swiel makes a break and Steyn is not there to follow up - then it will be a clear signs he is still not up to standard.   Lets wait and see what happens.

Sun Tzu

Crashballing and defence are according to you the only functions of backlines.   You really must be kidding - we used that in the 2012 RC is the only function of the backline whilst every other team used backline for both attacking backline play, defence and ball retention.   Rugby has 15 players in a team -  not 10 with the remainder there to make up the numbers and defend against the 15 man rugby teams world wide nowadays play.  

I can now understand your absolute dislike of Willie le Roux - he is not playing the type of rugby you advocate.   Your rant indicates that backlines must never play attacking rugby at all - they are there to crashball and defend only.

Just one question.   Why were we the only team that could not pass a ball to the wings ever when More and Steyn was in the backline and why are we the only team that never attacked with the backline in RC in 2012.

The kind of rugby you are advocating was the norm in the 1970's Norhten Transvall approach and was kept alive by the Bulls - but it just does not work anymore.  

Morne always was a clueless flyhalf and nothing has been debunked at all.  I do not accept unjustified hype to write up players.  Dear Morne is not good enough to start for a Club - what makes  him good enough to be the Springbok flyhalf?