Meyer has an absolute affection - I nearly said affliction for picking French Club players not able to make the starting line-ups for their Clubs anymore and then trying to convince us that the said players have had wonderful games.
He started off last year by picking the grossly overweight Gurthro Steenkamp. Steenkamp virtually never starts for Toulouse as prop anymore. On the odd accession that it happened it is the result of injury to their frontline players and is normally disastrous for Toulouse. His scrumming is so bad that it normally has an important impact on Toulouse losses in games where he start as a prop.
The second player in that category is Morne Steyn. The hype attached to him must have influenced Stade Francais to sign a contract with him despite his dubious defence. He turn out to be bad news for them and is never used as a starting flyhalf by them - their frontline flyhalf is miles better than him.
The third player involved is Bakkies Botha. It is almost insulting that Toulon now prefer Ali Williams as their starting lock. While playing for the Blues this year Williams was comprehensively outplayed and even humiliated by all SA locks he came up against. Even the gutless Juandre Kruger was better than him.
I really am amazed by Meyer's preference for these three players when their Clubs do not regard them as good enough for their starting line-ups. Are the Clubs so deficient that they cannot see value in their performances - or is Meyer so taken up with them because of his coaching association with them - that he cannot see their inability to perform satisfactorily anymore? Unfortunately it is clear the latter is the situation.
