This issue has been the top discussion point over the past week and there were at least three threads started on the issue. Let me be quite frank - Morne Steyn is no doubt a very decent gentleman with high work and moral ethics so the debate should never be around him as a person - but about his abilities and performances as a flyhalf.
On the site there are three distinct groups of people, namely -
* the fire-brand Morne supporters (Mozart, Ceradyne, Sun-Tzu The_Truth, Arizona wildcat and cjvandermerwe - who claim he is the best SA flyhalf around - emphasize how good he is as a goal kicker, praise him in every test he played in, blame any perceived deficiencies on other players, claims he has ball sense, but maintain absolute silence about his defensive lapses, lapses in decision making and attacking flyhalf deficiencies. They have the propensity to attack Lambie as a player - personal and otherwise - as a smokescreen in an effort to defend Morne's selection.
* the lukewarm Morne supporters (Clean Cut, Sharkbok, etc) who support his selection - but added with caution that he has deficiencies - but he is a reliable kicker at goal and has experience and reliability on his side, whilst they have reservations about other alternatives based on their inadequacies on a variety of issues such as Lambie's inability to maintain a high level of performance and his shortcomings as a gal kicker and Goosen's frailty as injury- prone. This group apparently include most of the NZ supporters on the site as well - who wish that Morne remains at flyhalf - because of their own reasons - making life easier for the AB's in view of his predictability and the way the All Blacks can deal with him.
* the anti-Morne faction (Saffex, myself, etc) who maintains his only real asset is his kicking at goal, but is severely critical of his predicatability, his lack of ability to be part of attacking backline play, his defensive lapses and his occasional lapses in sound decision making.
All three factions are probably somewhat amiss in their assessments with the luke-warn Morne supporters relatively nearest the mark. They are basically on the same wave-length as the Stade Francais Club situation - who contracted him and is now playing him as their bench player, since they regard him as being less effective than their present starting bench flyhalf. Basically this group would like to see him replaced if a better candidate emerges. The fire-brand Morne Supporters are basically wrong in that they ascribe abilities to him clearly absent from his performances, whilst the anti-Morne faction over-emphasize his deficiencies and say every-one is better than Morne - in extreme cases even Earl Silky Hands Jantjies.
I think on reflection that Morne is a very average flyhalf on international level and is expendable but only of a better candidate emerges. While the pro-Morne faction refuses even to consider such an option, I think we should be open-minded and consider the performances of alternative players in next years Super 15 on an objective basis - before arriving on a reasonable observation on what should happen.
The emphasis should be based on objectivity - not on personal prejudices and false pretences. On the whole whilst Morne is not playing on Super 15 level, it would be advisable to see how his Stade Francais Club handle the issue of his usage. If he remains their bench flyhalf we should accept that he is not really up to standard, since he is not regarded by them as their first choice flyhalf, it is consequently doubtful whether he should be our first choice flyhalf.
I hope this is a reasonable assessment of the situation and would consequently hear about the feelings of other members about the issue.
