Steyn wary of Wellington wind
4 Oct 2011
Morne Steyn says Wellington is the toughest place for goal kickers to be successful but his accuracy at the venue should be encouraging.
Steyn is widely regarded as the best goal kicker in world rugby, and leads the tournament in points scored through goal kicks. His continued success in this regard will be crucial to the Springboks’ cause, particularly since they have consistently struggled to score tries against elite opposition. They will again rely on a kick-chase method in Wellington on Sunday, and seek to force the opposition to infringe, whereupon they will hope Steyn builds a lead with his boot.
However, the Springbok flyhalf says the Cake Tin is an inhospitable place to excel at the science. ‘Wellington is the hardest place I’ve ever played in terms of goal kicking. There is this strange wind that swirls and makes it very difficult to be accurate,’ he said. ‘Hopefully the conditions settle a bit before Sunday [the wind has been strong in the last two days and the forecast is for it continue until Saturday].’
Steyn seems to have negotiated the elements well to date. He kicked three from three against Wales in testing conditions, and six from seven against Fiji in a similarly challenging environment.
The Wallabies have only played once in Wellington during the pool phases. Interestingly between Quade Cooper and Berrick Barnes they missed five of 11 conversion attempts. James O’Connor is likely to be entrusted with the goal kicking duty this weekend though. The youngster has kicked 50% of his penalty attempts and 86% of his conversion shots.
Steyn’s overall record is less impressive, having succeeded with 63% of his penalty attempts. He does however, have an 83% accuracy rate in banking conversions, which has upped his numbers and put him well ahead of other goal kickers.
There has been constant criticism of the ball, with the likes of England’s Jonny Wilkinson being its most outspoken critic. Wilkinson again struggled in Auckland against Scotland on Saturday, leaving his penalty success rate at a diabolical 36%, while his conversion stats are no better at 67%. Toby Flood replaced him late in the match and kicked a touchline conversion to suggest Wilkinson is a workman who is wrong in blaming his tools.
‘It’s easy to blame other things if you are not kicking well,’ Steyn said. ‘I have no problem with the ball; we’ve been playing with it for some time.’
The Springboks have lamented Frans Steyn’s absence through injury, particularly since it robs them of the unrivalled option of attempting 55m plus goals. Morne Steyn, however, said his range was ‘pretty similar’ but joked that he didn’t quite have the gun-boot of his namesake. ‘He kicked some from behind his own 10m line. I can’t do that. But I’m happy to have a go from a little closer than that if the opportunity arises.’
By Ryan Vrede, in Wellington.
Follow Ryan’s World Cup coverage on Twitter
25 Comments
4 Oct 2011, 05:22 am
He should contemplate the more threatening winds of Pocock and Elsom and Samo or Higginbotham coming at him more than anything else.
It all appears to be a windy day for him allround in Wellengton, then.
4 Oct 2011, 05:30 am
Every quoted ‘Bok seems to generally be talking up their simple rugby task. And look how they talk up all of Pocock and Genia and Cooper and more. Yet there are 19 other Wallabies in that squad with names like Beale, Barnes, O’Connor, Ashley Cooper, Samo, Moore, mighty Higginbotham and Horwill and a host more.
Do they sense they are on their way home? They cannot be considering cheap psychology as that is far beyond their capabilities by miles.
4 Oct 2011, 05:31 am
Wellington is as windy as Cape Town.
4 Oct 2011, 05:35 am
Purposely put the Boks in Wellington as to prevent kicks from being a factor. Morne will still get them.
4 Oct 2011, 05:38 am
But Steyn has never lived in C.T. for any appreciable length of time.
4 Oct 2011, 05:38 am
@ET.(ET.)-1:
You want those big Aussie blokes and the 35 year old Fijian mounting you, hey? Over and over.
4 Oct 2011, 05:44 am
Sounds very much like you are quite used to it by now in your ‘new’ country.
Is it the Fijians or the Samoans or the Tongans that have sampled you most since your arrival there?
4 Oct 2011, 05:47 am
@ET.(ET.)-7:
It seems your red ball gag has come out again. Let old Kobus ram it back in for you. Gimp.
4 Oct 2011, 05:48 am
@ET.(ET.)-2: They have a great squad, but I reckon the form Cooper is in, he may just win the match for South Africa on his own. He looks highly capable of throwing the Wallaby challenge away by himself. We can then look forward to the “why wasn’t Giteau selected” response from the aussie media there after….
4 Oct 2011, 06:03 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-9:
Matty G is the one big mistake Deans made in his squad.
I called for Matty G and Barnes in that cenral pairing but it did not happen.
Look it is KO stage and anything can really happen. But if it is a runaway it is more likely to be the Aussies running away to score tries than other way round.
In the last pool game Cooper was more patient and controlled. The words of Campese are wringing in his ears even now.
The Aussie forwards will take it to the Boks as they did in Durban and their missing pieces will fall into place now.
4 Oct 2011, 06:09 am
lol someone here is really really really optimistic about the Aussies chances in this game
4 Oct 2011, 06:14 am
Not any more so than the 77% who harbour false hope.
The Day of Reckoning is at hand. It may be days away or weeks away but happen it will.
4 Oct 2011, 06:16 am
if its weeks away it may very well be long after the boks have won the world cup
4 Oct 2011, 06:57 am
boktillzero…going on recent results…you would have to have one eye not too?
4 Oct 2011, 07:42 am
Very happy with Quade and the rest trying to exploit the inside channel come Sunday. Brings them in direct confrontation with Burger, Brussow. Sleepless nights? Ask Dingo Deans…
4 Oct 2011, 08:09 am
@gregars(gregars)-14:
Recent results ?
do you mean
Boks 4 wins from 4 games
Aussie 3 wins 1 loss from 4 games
4 Oct 2011, 08:18 am
Quade Cooper is like a revolving door compared to Morne’s!
Digby and O Connor is always a few steps behind Cooper to cover his ***! They call that specific defensive line “greek style”
4 Oct 2011, 08:19 am
As usual the Aussies are on a big ego trip ….. “mighty Higginbotham and Horwill etc.” Well they were not so mighty against Ireland.
They are so up their own arses it is pathetic, and oh so quick to forget the Ireland game as well as the fact that they have been beaten 10 out of 12 times by the All Blacks.
They come in their pants at the “Tri-Nations Champions 2011″ tag, but completely ignore the fact that both the ABs and the Boks did not take the tournament seriously and used it as a training run.
This, on top of the S15 “Title”, which I think is a joke due to the fact that the Crusaders played the bottom placed team ZERO times (Lions and Rebels) and the Reds played them twice each.
Coopers antics and his caring on of cheap shotting McCaw, is synonymous with this widgat attitude. Cooper does not deserve to lick McCaws boots in terms of rugby pedigree and overall respect.
Bring back Eales, Kearns, Willie O and Horan. They were the real Wallabie deal. These guys are pretenders.
I cannot wait for a fired up, focused, experienced Bok team to smash these guys in a REAL test, when it matters most.
Once and for all.
4 Oct 2011, 08:22 am
@Falken(Falken)-17:
No he is not. He is the “back door” i.e. they hide him at the back …. but he still runs in from no where to handbag McCaw from behind, or knee him in the face “by accident” like the coward he is.
4 Oct 2011, 08:34 am
Friend of mine played against Cooper at the junior world champs few years back. Quade gouged about 4 guys in the eye. Dirty laptop thief!
4 Oct 2011, 08:49 am
@boktillzero(boktillzero)-16: @boktillzero(boktillzero)-16:
no i didn’t…i’m more into comparing apples with apples…that is…South Africa and Australia’s recent playing record (i thought it was kinda self evident, but apologies if it wasn’t…)
4 Oct 2011, 08:55 am
Wow, what terrible reporting! Steyn’s conversion % is 93%. And lets look at the whole picture here, conversion’s aren’t any harder to kick than penalties!!
So Steyn is 19/23 = 83% overall
O’connor is 14/18 = 78% overall
Doesn’t seem like a big difference, but think of it this way, O’connor has to nail his next 5 kicks in a row to draw level with Steyn.
4 Oct 2011, 10:34 am
@Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated)-22:
No doubt O’connors kicks were easier. Morne was slotting some from 50 out at an angle. That b-itch O’connor can hardly kick further than 35m.
5 Oct 2011, 00:00 am
@Kobus Kitty(Kobus Kitty)-23: Yeah, but doesnt Beale have the big boot in the Aussie squad?
5 Oct 2011, 00:07 am
@The Analyst(The Analyst)-18: Top post that man, very true.
If the ref rules against Pocock like he should, then SA will clip them. Pocock is a great fetcher, but most of the time he approaches the ruck from the side, or very very close to it. Great battle looming between him and Brussow.
Genia and FdP – thats mouthwatering stuff – clearly the 2 best halves in the RWC, Schalk needs a big one to wrap him and keep him contained within the ensuing rucks.
Steyn is your most important asset now, he is a ruthless goal kicker, and positional play kicker. Not sure about his defense if the Aussies target his channel, he’s going to need some suport there.
I’m backing you guys to do this, although if Aussie were to get through and we get through the Argies, then facing Aus at Eden Park is a prospect most kiwis would be content with. SA havent had much fun at Eden Park too I guess, but it seems to spook Aussie more – look at what happnened against the Irish.
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