Meyer admits Morne mistake
16 Sep 2012
Heyneke Meyer says he may have erred in keeping Morne Steyn on the field against the All Blacks in Dunedin.
Steyn, whose missed penalty kicks cost the Springboks wins against England in PE and Argentina in Mendoza, had a poor first half with the boot at the Otago Stadium and many expected him to be replaced by Johan Goosen at half-time. Meyer, though, kept faith in his No 10 and it proved costly as by the time he was subbed in the 59th minute he had been successful with just one attempt out of five.
‘Sitting here afterwards it is easy to make calls but it is a life and death situation for me and maybe I made the wrong call but Morne usually comes back and kicks well,’ Meyer told a news conference after the match. ‘Frans Steyn is a great goal-kicker and Ruan Pienaar can kick as well. You don’t just take a guy off for his goal-kicking.
‘I’ve always said that I am going to bring Johan Goosen through and give him game time. But Johan had struggled with his goal-kicking in training during the week and he is still only 20-years-old and he hasn’t played for almost three months. I thought he did superbly for the 25 minutes he was on the field.
‘But we could have changed the goal-kicker. We talked about it at half-time. I thought Morne would find his rhythm.’
378 Comments
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16 Sep 2012, 09:12 am
And zane??
16 Sep 2012, 09:13 am
And why sub Beast with that apocalyptic c unt greyling?
16 Sep 2012, 09:14 am
If this was Pdivvie, the country would not be able to forgive him at all, like they’ve shown.
Double standards as always by the rugby public.
16 Sep 2012, 09:15 am
Jeez Keo is behind the times. This was on News24 yesterday. http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/RugbyChampionship/Meyer-admits-to-Steyn-mistake-20120915
16 Sep 2012, 09:16 am
Together with earl , zane is one of the kakkest boks ever… Sad that a guy like ettienne botha never became a bok, because of quotas… They should give zane and earl a protea blazer…. Not a bok one…
16 Sep 2012, 09:16 am
Oops, my mistake, it was on Supersport even earlier yesterday.
http://www.supersport.com/rugby/springboks/news/120915/Decision_to_let_Steyn_kick_probably_a_mistake
16 Sep 2012, 09:22 am
@grant100-5:
Consistently 80% and up of the Bok team and Super Rugby teams are made up of white players. I think white players have enough chances. At the time Ettiene Botha was playing he was considered to small and he and Adi Jacobs had a fantastic partnership. Now you are saying that Ettiene Botha should have played in front of De Wet Barry/Marius Joubert or Jean de Villiers/Jacque Foure?
Your argument is devoid of insight which makes you a racist peos!
16 Sep 2012, 09:23 am
@grant100-5:
To be quite honest, the best players on the park from both teams were non-white.
May the problem is that there are too many white players?
16 Sep 2012, 09:24 am
Rugby student… Bobo was picked above ettienne at the time… There are reserves aswell boet…. Stick with soccer
16 Sep 2012, 09:25 am
Heineke knowing that you faulted persisting with morne will you kick him to the cUrbs? I think not…
As I believe that only morne cost us the game I think that hougi must go back to scrummie… Ruans kick was so aimless I could not believe it!!!
Jeans game is suffering @13… Bring in de jong or mapoe @13 play fransie @15 and go back to 12 then I know we will absolutely wing the next 2.
9-hougaar 10-goosen 11-basson 12-de villiers 13-de jong/mapoe 14-habana 15-steyn
20-pienaar 21-lambie 22-engelbrecht/mapoe/de jong
16 Sep 2012, 09:26 am
@grant100-9:
Hahaha, I don’t like soccer. If it wasn’t for quotas, Bryan Habana would’ve
also been just another talent.
16 Sep 2012, 09:30 am
@grant100-9:
The real problem with quotas are the selectors at provincial level.
There’s lots of talent but selectors would rather sit at a Waterkloof vs KES or
Paul Roos vs Paarl Gym game. Other schools who have lotsa talent don’t get airtime.
So scouts and selectors keep saying there aren’t enough black players. Bull!
16 Sep 2012, 09:33 am
@grant100-9:
When was Bobo picked in front of Jean de Villiers/Jacque Fourie/Dewet Barry/Marius Joubert?
16 Sep 2012, 09:35 am
Now that emotions have subsided I must say…..What a wasted opportunity Heyneke!
Goosen looks totally at home, in fact he exudes confidence . Surely , surely, surely the M Steyn era is now well and truly over? With Elton Jantjes getting Man of Match in Bloem we are more than adequately stocked with 10 class….no need for the handbrake 1 dimensional skop en jag artist anymore Heyneke…
Must say Ruan Pienaar has dissapointed me as well….his kicking was really poor behind a dominant pack….Hougaard should be given the 9 jersey with an instruction to play and not try be a FDP clone.
J De Villiers is a massive concern for me. He does not look happy and is clearly not enjoying the 13 role. That is another big call HM will need to make…
As for the pack….Surely the performance of F louw has once and for all silenced the critics and debate around a specialist opensider….Louw was superb, and with Brussow getting his groove back we have 2 pedigreed Pitbulls and 1 should always start….Vermeulen will get better and better as he approaches 100% fitness and both Alberts and M Coetsee were excellent as well….
I hope JP Pietersen starts playing soon…..if so I would look at this backline for the home leg…9 Hougaard
10 Goosen
11Habana
12 F Steyn
13 J De Jongh
14 J P P
15 Lambie….
Also must say F VD Merwe made a big impression yesterday….best game I have seen the enforcer play…
What a pity we had a fear filled coach….
16 Sep 2012, 09:35 am
Now will SARU admit Meyer mistake?
16 Sep 2012, 09:36 am
“HM says You don’t just take a guy off for his goal-kicking. there a lot of other things morne did wrong in the game ……sitting deep and poor decision making is juts 2 of them.
shame he doesn’t make a mention about his other big mistake taking off beast for greyling. Or his poor kick and chase rugby game plan we’ve got a long way to go …….
16 Sep 2012, 09:39 am
I don’t get it. If HM loves Morne so much, he owes it to him to drop him. There is no reason for Morne Steyn to be getting as much hate as he is. He is playing as well as he can at the moment, but is out of form. HM should protect him by dropping him. He can have a rest or go play for the Bulls and hopefully will come back stronger in a year or two. He is not worth discarding completely. It reminds me of how Percy was treated when he was out of form, it was not his fault, he was not selecting himself. We are all glad he came back after a time away from the Boks. I am sure it shows signs of a gamblers mentality, always believing the gamble will pay off if only it goes your way once. As for Greyling, he should donate his match fee to a charity, apologise to all of SA and voluntarily leave the team ashamed as he should do. As for HM, he really needs to take a long look at himself and his team. He needs to ask what value he is bringing to SA rugby. If anything at the moment he is making us more reliant on a game plan that will not work against the top 5 teams in the world & relies completely on the forwards controling the game. This is not possible every week, with the best will in the world. He needs to do something. I would suggest the Ricardo Loubsher needs to be let go, the backline skills are atrocious & those backs should be embarrassed today. John Mitchell or David Campese are the only persons that could come in and make an immediate impact. SARU, need to change (or at least experiment in one province) the way they develop age group rugby. It is time for the youngsters to be seperated into weight categories rather than age group. Will see some skills come through then. All provinces should get a mandate to upskill all players immediately with a greater emphasis on keeping the ball alive, creativity and continuity, you can’t expect the Boks to do it, if it is not done at lower levels.
16 Sep 2012, 09:40 am
@grant10-14:
I don’t get it. When the England team was here, Heyneke said, that only for that series will we see the stuff that he knows and are comfortable with. Nothing has changed.
16 Sep 2012, 09:40 am
@hsark-16: The moronic mesiah says a lot of things.
Pity he does fokol except alienate supporters.
16 Sep 2012, 09:41 am
I don’t get it. If HM loves Morne so much, he owes it to him to drop him. There is no reason for Morne Steyn to be getting as much hate as he is. He is playing as well as he can at the moment, but is out of form. HM should protect him by dropping him. He can have a rest or go play for the Bulls and hopefully will come back stronger in a year or two. He is not worth discarding completely. It reminds me of how Percy was treated when he was out of form, it was not his fault, he was not selecting himself. We are all glad he came back after a time away from the Boks. I am sure it shows signs of a gamblers mentality, always believing the gamble will pay off if only it goes your way once.
As for Greyling, he should donate his match fee to a charity, apologise to all of SA and voluntarily leave the team ashamed as he should do.
As for HM, he really needs to take a long look at himself and his team. He needs to ask what value he is bringing to SA rugby. If anything at the moment he is making us more reliant on a game plan that will not work against the top 5 teams in the world & relies completely on the forwards controling the game. This is not possible every week, with the best will in the world. He needs to do something.
I would suggest the Ricardo Loubsher needs to be let go, the backline skills are atrocious & those backs should be embarrassed today. John Mitchell or David Campese are the only persons that could come in and make an immediate impact. SARU, need to change (or at least experiment in one province) the way they develop age group rugby. It is time for the youngsters to be seperated into weight categories rather than age group. Will see some skills come through then.
All provinces should get a mandate to upskill all players immediately with a greater emphasis on keeping the ball alive, creativity and continuity, you can’t expect the Boks to do it, if it is not done at lower levels.
16 Sep 2012, 09:43 am
@The Bill-17:
John Mitchell is a forwards coach, are you talking about Carlos Spencer maybe?
16 Sep 2012, 09:43 am
@The Bill-20: No need to repeat yourself. Just ask HM what happens
16 Sep 2012, 09:44 am
It appears from HMs remarks, that being able to kick is the sole criteria for his flyhalf choice. I wonder what plans he has to turn Goosen into his complete 10?
16 Sep 2012, 09:47 am
@David-23: Perfect the triple rotating, reverse inward boomerang kick wit a half length googly bounce to confuse the opposition and get the ball back to us.
16 Sep 2012, 09:49 am
It was tragic to see the possession being aimlessly kicked away yesterday. I maintain this is really an average Kiwi and Aussie team and if only we would select correctly and stop the skop an jag en bid policy we will beat these teams…..
I say it again….and again and again….Lose the FEAR HEYNEKE….
16 Sep 2012, 09:51 am
Who does Heyneke Talk to on the radio
16 Sep 2012, 09:53 am
Looks like Meyer does not have the flexibility to make it at international level. His inability to trust in players of colour is a concern. Think of Kolisi, Jantjies and De Jongh. It seems he is only comfortable with players from a certain culture.
16 Sep 2012, 09:58 am
Number one spot up for grabs if we want it. Trust me, the loss of Jerome Kaino and Brad Thorn has cut the AB’s physicality to the core. Heyneke Meyer directly responsible for the tragic defeat yesterday with two Bulls clowns (Steyn and Kirtchner) not getting the hook soon enough (let alone starting), and one absolute palooka Bulls clown Greyling substituted on for a form Beast. Putting Lambie on for 5 minutes was sickening and insulting.
16 Sep 2012, 10:01 am
@RugbyStudent-26: Dialling 911
16 Sep 2012, 10:01 am
@RugbyStudent-21: John Mitchell created one of the best running teams when was coaching the All Blacks, so he should be called in, along with Campese as a skills coach.
16 Sep 2012, 10:01 am
I think the problem right now is we don’t have backline players in teh country setting the world alight. I think our backline players are totally overcoached.
16 Sep 2012, 10:03 am
@Spiesisworthless1-28:
I agree….Kiwis are not that flash…..we are our own worst enemies at the moment.
I believe we have the players to dominate …..the key problems are self belief, game plan and selection.
And those 3 all fall under the auspices and control of Management…..and Meyer needs to up his own game…..perhaps use some of the physcho babble on himself….
16 Sep 2012, 10:03 am
@trupisero-29:
Bravo 1, Bravo 1 kom in, ek is in die kak! hahaha
@The Bill-30:
Was there ever a time when the All Blacks didn’t play running rugby, regardless of the coach?
16 Sep 2012, 10:04 am
Meyer cost us 4 games now by keeping Morne on the field. Should have brought on Janjties in PE, Lambie on in Mendoza, also should have brought on Goosen earlier in Perth. Goosen should have started in Dunedin or brought on after 30min when Morne was clearly not up to it. Had he brought on all those players in those games we would have won all of them. Lambie too should have been given 25min at least at fb. Zane was not great either.
Yesterday in Dunedin Boks were by far the better team, but our kicks for posts messed it up for us. Also two tries that went begging by Habs. Knocking on once right by their line and not catching the ball, he would have been over for both. Could have been a bad pass by Zane or Habs over running it. Ruan was not great either and he cost us at times too.
So we missed 7 kicks = 21 points. Missed two certain tries, make that 10 points because Morne was not getting anything over at the time. We should have finished on 42 points. Zane too let through a try. Greyling cost us huge as well. Why he was brought on for Beast will never know. Such a pity we messed this one up. ABs were there for the taking.
The real person that cost us this game was Meyer. Players don’t select themselves. It was up to Meyer to pull Morne off and bring on Goosen earlier, it was up to him to bring on Lambie as well. It was him that replaced Beast with Greyling. Meyer should take total blame for us losing.
Why Meyer should allow his captain to think for himself on the field. It seems as if Jean was not allowed to give the kicks to Ruan to take once Morne had missed two. The captain should be allowed on the field to change the kicker if he has missed two. Ruan then should have taken the next two kicks. All other captains have changed the kicker if they have missed two. Just seems as if Meyer has just too much power here. He really should allow his captain some leeway on teh field.
So there it is. I blame Meyer for this loss.
16 Sep 2012, 10:04 am
Kirchner does not deserve to be berated as much as he is. He played poorly but was not as culpable as Meyer, Steyn or Greyling. I would love him to do more with ball in hand, but same could be said of Pienaar, F Steyn, JDV, Hougard.
That said, I would prefer Lambie on the field.
16 Sep 2012, 10:07 am
@Puma-34: teh = the
16 Sep 2012, 10:08 am
@The Bill-35:
Agreed but the call for Lambie is a baffling one as he has not played much fullback in the last year and a bit. The last time he played FB for South Africa he didn’t do to well. The problem is the fullback space is much of a muchness. Who do you pick?
Ludik/Taute/Aplon/Joe Pietersen/Daniller…etc
We haven’t had a good fullback for a while. And it seems the criteria for a good fullback solely depends on if they are good in the air and can kick. In that instance I’d rather pick Ludik.
16 Sep 2012, 10:10 am
@Puma-34: spot on puma
16 Sep 2012, 10:11 am
@The Bill-20: Very good post Bill.
I would bring in Mitchell as a consultant to help Meyer. Doubt Meyer will want to work full time with Mitch. As a consultant for a few weeks it would definitely work. However, bring in Carlos as our backline coach. Our backline coach has done absolutely nothing with our backs at all. Carlos would make a massive difference straight away.
16 Sep 2012, 10:12 am
When Habana goes to the ground with the ball and we recycle it quickly, only for Morne to give a kick over the ruck for Habana to chase, you just know that the man has absolutely no tactical sense.
That was probably the most pathetic of all his kicks yesterday.
16 Sep 2012, 10:14 am
@grant10-38: Thanks Grant. I feel you feel exactly the same as I do right now.
Anyhow feel so gutted we lost yesterday. We were by far the better team. Meyer is costing us wins by refusing to bring on the better players during the games.
16 Sep 2012, 10:17 am
@Puma-41: Highlight for me was our loose trio….
Again shows that we have the players to dominate…..
That loose trio were a handfull…..and will get better and better given time to gel….
16 Sep 2012, 10:18 am
@grant10-32: It’s so frustrating knowing that we have the talent to do anything really, certainly match the current AB’s and surpass the Wallabies, but Meyer doesn’t have the belief. His game-plan says it all. The players have more belief than he does going on Saturdays performance.
Steyn equally crippled by fear and doubt, and Kirtchner just a flat out average player who should never have seen a Springbok jersey in the first place.
I can accept that Heyneke is unlikely to be sacked anytime soon, but for goodness sake lets get some big time proven coaches in the box assisting him. Todd Louden may have turned down Meyer’s offer but there are a whole host of world class, innovative coaches that would jump at the chance to coach the Boks. Van Graan and Loubscher never inspired confidence from the beginning.
16 Sep 2012, 10:19 am
Can’t really blame Zane for the try, Puma.
Smith was missed by somebody at the ruck, remember. Could not see who it was.
Was just a very good individual try.
That said, Zane was not great but not many of the back line players were. Our forwards, especially our loosies, on the other hand were very good.
16 Sep 2012, 10:19 am
@RugbyStudent-37: I would go for Lambie for the following reasons:
He is a very talented player & I believe he will earn a bucket load of caps. He has not had an extended run at FB, so give him a run there. ZC has had a run & has not made the position his own.
Lambie is with the Boks & knows the system and he he allows a lot of flexibility for the backs. There may come a time when he is needed at FH, he will be familiar with the systems, pattern etc.
I think to say he did not do well in 1 game some time ago is not enough reason to drop him.
16 Sep 2012, 10:20 am
As i lifelong bulls fan even i have have reached that point where i say enough is enough HM must now drop morne as his form and confidence have now totally gone.It would be the best thing for morne and SA rugby if he went back to the bulls and played in the CC,as his form at test level is not good enough.He has been a good servant to bulls and bok rugby,but HM must not confuse sentiment with loyalty it never works,this is about as simple as it gets he is out of form ,low in confidence so drop him,there is no shame in dropping him it has happened to many a good player when there form has gone,and it will do morne good as he will be out of the firing line at test level.
16 Sep 2012, 10:20 am
Should read made a mistake to start with Steyn !!!!!!!!
– Not sure who to play at 9 as hougie is not clever enough to command the game,, Pienaar needs to speed up. But overall I was very impressed with the Boks they looked like a different team, a team that wanted to win,,,, Boks dominated the Kiwis, the whole game and Flow/ Alberts and have to say Flippie played well…
Not sure what HM has been watching, Steyn kicks the ball during play straight down the middle of the pitch – someone needs to tell him they need to go out on the sides…. And Steyn/ Pienaar gave the ball back to the best attacking team in the world all the time.. Pienaar is to slow at 9..
16 Sep 2012, 10:22 am
@nama1-44: It was missed by Greyling. If ever it was not your day, he proved it yesterday.
In fact, he may have suggested rugby (at international level) is not his career.
16 Sep 2012, 10:22 am
@The Bill-35: Kirchner doesnt have the capacity to do more with the ball, unlike Frans,JDV,Hougaard,Pienaar. He’s never done shite before so it figures that he never will.
16 Sep 2012, 10:24 am
@blueboy-46: It did wonders for Percy Montgomery. HM is turning everyone against Morne, not Morne himself.
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