Heyneke aims to heal Morné
18 Sep 2012
Heyneke Meyer believes that with the right guidance Morné Steyn can make a Bryan Habana-type recovery and still contribute to the Springbok cause.
The overseas leg of the Boks’ Rugby Championship campaign was a failure if you consider that they drew with Argentina and lost to both Australia and New Zealand. In all three matches, they could have won had they been more accurate with their kicks on goal.
Despite the poor record on tour, Meyer was in an upbeat mood and truly believes the Boks have made good progress. Regarding the problem around Steyn and his goal-kicking, Meyer still feels the flyhalf can add value, although the Bok coach is yet to decide whether Steyn will continue in a starting position.
Meyer compared Steyn to Habana, and believes the former can replicate the latter’s return to form. Habana struggled in the 2010 and 2011 seasons before returning to his best in 2012, and Meyer hopes that in time Steyn will do the same.
‘I don’t want to knock individuals but the missed kicks were crucial,’ Meyer said. ‘Morné is mentally tough though and if you look at what happened to Bryan Habana, with the right guidance he is now playing phenomenal rugby again.
‘I don’t want to boost myself, but I’ve always been great at getting the best out of players and the mental break will do Morné well. We’ll look at the situation after this weekend’s Currie Cup matches and then decide who will play.’
Meyer added that the game plan used by the Boks this season, a playing pattern that has copped a lot of flak, was largely successful in Dunedin. Meyer has no intention of changing tact.
‘The guys were very unhappy not to win, but sometimes we’ve played worse rugby in New Zealand and won, it was just the goal-kicking that let us down. Otherwise we did enough to win, it was the right game plan and we kept them under pressure, we just couldn’t convert that into points.
‘It was 3-5 at halftime, but it could have been 15-5 if we’d made our kicks, that would have built pressure and they would have had to chase the game. There’s always criticism about the game plan, but I believe we got it 100% right. We had them under pressure.’
The Bok coach was also very pleased with the performance of his forwards, and said this was another major sign of progress.
‘I thought we scrummed well and I’m very happy with our front row. The combination we used in the loose forwards was superb against the best loose trio in the world and we have four great locks going forward. I think it instilled that self-belief in the team that they can beat anyone anywhere.’
54 Comments
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18 Sep 2012, 07:47 am
hier kom groot kak
18 Sep 2012, 07:50 am
‘ the combo we used in the loose trio was superb ‘
Hell HM…..most of us here were telling you to use that combo since day 1…..
Hybrids se moer man…
18 Sep 2012, 07:56 am
Ruan Pienaar up & under in his own 22 leads to Ozzies 2nd try a week later up & under out of his own 22 leads to Israel Dagg try,this is a gr8 gameplan for the oppisition i suppose
18 Sep 2012, 07:58 am
Is Dean Greyling still part of this masterplan??Some plan where you draw one and lose two
18 Sep 2012, 07:59 am
Heyneke Meyer would do a good stand up on a street corner bar. Anyone who seriously thinks the slithery Steyn creature can make a recovery is beyond rescue. His best rugby is an average day for Goosen, Lamabie and the like. Get him back to Currie Cup and leave him there with Showpony Spies.
18 Sep 2012, 08:01 am
Comparing him to Habana is no good. Habana may have been out of form but he never, ever stopped trying, unlike the Steyn creature who seemed to stop trying to do his job since the test season began.
18 Sep 2012, 08:05 am
Morne Steyn is about to become the most capped Bok 10 ever.
What a fking joke that is.
Could that be the only reasone HM is hanging on to this wet rag of a player?
18 Sep 2012, 08:05 am
Not a Morne’ fan, but i’m not one to write off a player, but it’s Meyer himself that has placed Morne’ in this less than favorable position. Surely a coach of his “acclaimed” acumen could have managed Morne’s slump in form in a manner that was both beneficial to the team and player. The springboks will progress and remain a power house of rugby, not because of Meyer, but because SA has the talent to maintain it. Still not convinced of Meyer, proof is in the pudding, and thus far the pudding taste kaak.
18 Sep 2012, 08:13 am
I can see MS retaining the 10 jersey for Loftus with HM justiying it with it being Steyns home ground, etc…..
I am not sure HM is reading the countries mood correctly….
Hope he realises if Boks lose 2 home games the knives will be out ….big time.
18 Sep 2012, 08:16 am
@pattyfries-6:
Habana at times has been the best wing in the world and at times has potentially been one of the best rugby players in the world – period.
Morne Steyn has never been the best 10 in the world nor has he been one of the best rugby players in the world.
I am sure Meyer could get him back to his best, given time and energy.
But the point is his best simply isn’t good enough for the Boks because the Boks must evolve to become the best team in the world.
18 Sep 2012, 08:19 am
I wanna know where are all the Heyneke Meyer disciples because this messiah of yours is leading you up the garden path. This is NO messiah here this is a deluded moron who don’t know the FIRST thing about rugby
God almighty is this the type investment SA rugby makes in rugby coaches .. , from bad to WORSE?
18 Sep 2012, 08:30 am
@puff-10: Also, Habana found form before the messianic moron started to take control of the team – has fckall to do with him.
@fitz1ella-11: now there is something I can agree with you on.
18 Sep 2012, 08:41 am
HM is not doing the player any favours by this preferential treatment. He is just piling more pressure on Morne.
Just give him a break – best case send him back to Currie Cup or worst case move him to the bench.
The worst incident for me was Morne executing a beautiful side step and then with not a defender within 15 m and players on his outside deciding to kick.
18 Sep 2012, 08:59 am
Yes a coach can motivate & inspire but what riles here is Meyer’s hypocrisy
18 Sep 2012, 09:02 am
You’re shite Heineken.
18 Sep 2012, 09:02 am
Ok its official our National coach is blind!
Someone get him a seeing eye dog asap!
18 Sep 2012, 09:03 am
What’s he going to do??
Sing Kum-ba-ya around a campfire with the guy??
Incense and Candles??
No man.
Springbok level is not the time to be healing anyone. You forget Heynecke that you are no longer the coach/DOR of the Bulls. Let them heal him and let him come and compete for his position along with the rest of them.
18 Sep 2012, 09:05 am
@Bokhoring-13: That was just sad.
18 Sep 2012, 09:54 am
I feel Goosen will start at Loftus and Morne will be on the bench, but really Morne should not even be making the bench, can’t replace Goosen with a player like Morne. Watch Meyer will still have Morne there for insurance if he thinks Goosen can’t handle it, but Goosen will. Morne should do the right thing and step down and play Currie Cup.
18 Sep 2012, 09:56 am
Another thing, some players get one chance and some don’t even get a chance. Then we have Morne that has has more chances than any other. Just not good enough Meyer favouritism will hurt us being the best rugby team in the world.
It seems Meyer’s biggest downfall is selection. Selection of players is always key.
18 Sep 2012, 10:43 am
@Transie..here we go again!
‘Morné is mentally tough though and if you look at what happened to Bryan Habana, with the right guidance he is now playing ”
just missing the WARRIOR statement!
18 Sep 2012, 11:00 am
I do not understand why players should find their form while playing for the Boks. Habana should have been dropped last year and the year before. He contributed to too many losses and Currie Cup rugby would have been better for him. Steyn should be sent to Currie Cup. Heyneke can work on his mental capabilities in the off season and if Morne finds his form in super rugby 2013 then he may be considered for the Boks again. Only if his all round game has improved as well. I think (or let me say hopefully) this is the plan with Morne.
18 Sep 2012, 11:04 am
Morne Steyn versus Jantjies? I know who I would be investing in for the future. However Meyer’s weakness is one of cultural selectivity.
18 Sep 2012, 11:04 am
@Puma-20: How many guys even thought of Francois Louw. Yes, I also feel Heyneke is losing the plot with some selections, but all his new young Boks are performing extremely well (except Potgieter).
18 Sep 2012, 11:05 am
@XV-23: Does that also apply to Kirchner vs Lambie?
18 Sep 2012, 11:09 am
Johannesburg – Former All Blacks coach John Mitchell says he is keen to stay in South Africa despite his employment wrangle with his former Lions franchise dragging on for three months.
Mitchell was suspended in June following allegations from his players about his coaching style.
However, according to the New Zealand Herald website, Mitchell told Radio Sport on Tuesday that he was happy to stay in South Africa, although a change in career could be on the cards.
“I really enjoy South Africa. I’ve been coaching professionally now for 18 years and it might be time to do a bit of media work and impart my knowledge on to other coaches and then pick the right place to go into,” he said.
“Since the All Blacks I’ve been in two extremely different jobs, I guess. I developed a new club (Western Force) in Australia and gone to a place which was obviously very negative and toxic when I arrived and obviously needed a rebuild… there’s a learning (there), the next job I go into will have to a have a very good structure as opposed to trying to, I guess, micro-manage in an organisation which needs a lot of help.”
Mitchell, who coached the All Blacks between 2001-2003, said he had a good case against the Lions.
“Unfortunately I’m in a situation that’s uncontrollable. The Lions are obviously in a very difficult situation in professional rugby, and I’ve been put in this position and ultimately that’s my responsibility.
“The truth always comes out. I’m in a very good position, I’ve just got to trust the process.”
“the next job I go into will have to a have a very good structure as opposed to trying to, I guess, micro-manage in an organisation which needs a lot of help” Please Bulls coaches, read this. We need a new guy with his own ideas. He will bring Jantjies and Taute to the Bulls and bring the best out of Serfontein, Venter, Botha, Engelbrecht, etc.
18 Sep 2012, 11:10 am
“We’ll look at the situation after this weekend’s Currie Cup matches and then decide who will play.”
Something tells me that Heyneke has already programmed the PVR to record the Lions game. And that we’ll see Jantjes on the bench, as back up to Goosen.
18 Sep 2012, 11:10 am
@Horings-24: I did
18 Sep 2012, 11:11 am
@Horings-25: fair question….I personally would have Taute and Lambie fighting for the fullback position. Aplon is better than Kirchner but he never went through the Bulls system.
18 Sep 2012, 11:12 am
@katman-27: And amen to that
18 Sep 2012, 11:16 am
Saying that “the Boks have made good progress” is like saying, “look, I’ve scored 30% in my exam instead of last week’s 10%.” You’ve still failed miserably. The reason the Boks have failed thus far is because of poor coaching decision. Finish and klaar!
18 Sep 2012, 11:25 am
@grant10-28: I know you did as did I. I predicted Heyneke will bring in Louw at some time in the rugby championship as I believe he is the only fetcher in the Wikus van Heerden mould. My point is it was a bit out of the blue and not many predicted he will do it. It is proven also to be a very good selection as his selection of Etzebeth, Coetzee and Goosen. The only selection I am 100% against is Steyn. Kirchner is playing well enough, but I would have preferred Lambie and Taute, which is probably the next player Heyneke will bring into the team.
18 Sep 2012, 11:27 am
@Riaan26-31: So, you are saying we would have won all of our games up to now if we had the correct coach? Who is that miracle worker? Remember, you should select someone that was actually available.
18 Sep 2012, 11:29 am
Ug HM is saying all the wrong things ‘we got it 100% right’ & ‘it was the right gameplan’ . Sure the forwards dominated, but stating that the game plan worked is folly. The SA rugby public dont want MS near a bok jersey ever again. He can remain with the bulls and who knows, one day perhaps Goosen and his new deputy (whoever that may be Lambie or Jantjies) will be out injured… Then he can come back and prove a point. A big blessing would be for MS to go abroad…
18 Sep 2012, 11:35 am
@Jeez-34: The penalty count at one stage was 8 penalties each. Of those 8, six of ours were kickable and one of theirs. 1. What does this tell you about field position?
2. Did our kicking game work if we dominated the territorial game.
If we ran from our own half the situation would have been reversed and the halftime score would have been 20-3 to the All Blacks. They employed the wrong game plan and should have kicked in some instances. Yes, they scored one try from running out, but they should have conceded 18.
18 Sep 2012, 11:40 am
What a load of dirbble, Steyn needs to address his faults as a player at Currie Cup level, the player has no confidence!!!
Meyer, you have to decide, do you want to keep your job or do you want Morne in your team? These two don’t go together at te moment!!!!
If Morne plays again we will loose!!!
18 Sep 2012, 12:03 pm
this cheap chappies wrapper psychology of meyer of prefacing things he is about to do by telling us, he is not about to do the very same thing is foolish
‘I don’t want to boost myself, but I’ve always been great at getting the best out of players.
“It’s no use making any excuses but we didn’t adapt well to the conditions. These guys need to learn – a lot of them haven’t played in these conditions at Test-match level,”
“I think there are a lot of youngsters and inexperienced guys in this side, but that’s not an excuse. Obviously we have to learn from this, part of having mental toughness is for when you play away from home
BUT, BUT, BUT. give us break man!
18 Sep 2012, 12:54 pm
@37 Trans
chappies wrapper psychology… hehehe… niiice
18 Sep 2012, 12:56 pm
Fact of the matter is Steyn is no longer good enough to start and should be dropped. Provide Goosen and Jantjies with opportunities to learn and grow!
18 Sep 2012, 13:08 pm
I find it very funny and ironic that only a few months ago Keo who posted there SA Rugby article of Steyn being the saviour of the Boks, are the front runners of calling for him to be axed, if that doesnt show that Mark and co do not what they are talking about nothing will.
18 Sep 2012, 13:19 pm
I still don’t get how a coach can have a 42% win record and still believe he is on the right path?
I’m sorry, but this hardheaded bliksem is getting on my nerves….and I suspect everyone elses. If he loses both games in SA then surely he must be shown the door.
18 Sep 2012, 13:29 pm
So,the rock spider claims to have coached Habana into form?What an arrogant plonker.
18 Sep 2012, 13:36 pm
@katman-27: And what happens when we wake up? Steyn starts again?
@logie_Jumpbuck-41: Ready to lose it, totallyfuckingloseit.
18 Sep 2012, 13:37 pm
@Transformation-37: This man deserves EVERY bit of negativity that comes his way…….and then some.
18 Sep 2012, 13:52 pm
Heyneke, someone once said that there are only two types of rugby, winning or losing. Your team falls into the second category at the moment. Looking at what you said at the start of your tenure, you are failing and no amount of “positive points” will change that.
18 Sep 2012, 14:03 pm
This is exactly what I’m talking about. With Morne Steyn you can hardly play any other game than kick-chase against top opposition like the AB’s and Aus. Even Arg showed that they can stop us behind the adv line, or at least make frontfoot ball hard to come by. Morne Steyn can run the ball but then he has to see/know our forwards clearly has the upperhand. If Alberts doesn’t make at least 4-5 mtrs, he find it very difficult running onto the ball and stays in the pocket. You might get that sorta gain once or twice against the top teams. HM, backing Morne seems ok with this. FFS Heyneke! WAKE THE FCK UP!!!! Everyone that matters got our number with this type of game. You’ll get carte blanche from me till the end of your reign, all things being equal, if we switch to a ball in hand type game. Forwards and backs alike, running at space rather than the man. Scouts honour!!!
18 Sep 2012, 15:40 pm
Meyer’s misguided notion of considering that Steyn, even on form, will do a better job for the Springboks than Lambie or Goosen is farcical almost to the point that we should start a PETITION AGAINST MORNE playing for the Springboks ever again.
18 Sep 2012, 16:43 pm
DELUSIONAL – Isn’t the definition of crazy doing the exact same thing over and over again expecting different results.
18 Sep 2012, 16:55 pm
“‘Morné is mentally tough though and if you look at what happened to Bryan Habana, with the right guidance he is now playing phenomenal rugby again.”
So, you are responsible for Habana’s new found form. YOU were able to bring him back to form since just the week before the English test, is it now?
Why does it take you so long to help Morne to regain his form?
18 Sep 2012, 17:03 pm
@nama1-49: hey, the man doesn’t want to BOOST himself but he brough habana back to form, even though habana was looking better at the beggining of the season for the Stormers…
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