How France shaped Frans
13 Feb 2013
Frans Steyn’s benefit from an overseas rugby playing experience is further evidence of the changing landscape of South African rugby.
Francois Louw is a better player now than when he left Western Province for Bath. Percy Montgomery returned to South Africa a more accomplished player than the 50 Test veteran who left for Wales and who many accepted was past his best and would never again play Test rugby. Montgomery added 52 Tests to his CV, won the Tri Nations and was integral to South Africa winning the World Cup in 2007.
He never turned his back on South Africa. Montgomery was drained from the routine of Super Rugby, Test Rugby, Currie Cup Rugby and Test Rugby. He wanted to experience something else and he just needed a bit of time away from the public glare. Montgomery has often told me what his time in Wales taught him was to be a rugby professional and to assume the responsibility of the overseas professional. He said he grew up as a person but more so his rugby matured because he was taken out of his comfort zone.
Ditto Louw and ditto so many other South Africans who are currently playing in Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and even in Japan.
It is the way of the modern game the our best players can command the highest salaries in European club rugby and it is not a crime for any young player to want to reap the financial rewards, experience a change of pace in life, grow as a person and by circumstance of experiencing new responsibility become a better rugby player.
The vitriol from within the South African rugby support base is a common package directed at any player who wants to experience an overseas stint. Immediately he is cast as the villain and immediately the local based player is put on a pedestal of loyalty to the national jersey and the national flag. It is absurd in the context of the evolution of the sport as a profession, and it betrays the incredible value to those players who at an early age experience the overseas influence and return to South Africa in their mid 20s so much wiser and adding so much more value to rugby teams in South Africa and to the national cause.
I’ve constantly been amazed at the ‘out of sight out of mind’ attitude, especially when so much of the English Premiership, French Top 14 and Heineken Cup is shown on SuperSport, and that so many of the South African players are consistently the best performers.
Somewhere a misguided principle of patriotism has painted these South Africans as sinners to the cause of the South African game because their talent allows for interest and lucrative financial reward from Europe’s wealthiest clubs.
Ronaldo did not sell out to Portugal soccer because he earns his monthly salary at the club prepared to pay him his market value and more. The same applies to every South African soccer talent that is overseas based. I don’t want this misinterpreted as saying being based overseas makes a player automatically better than what is based in this country but why choose one or the other when the option should be to choose both or make an informed national selection based on player pedigree and form and not where the player is based.
Steyn won a World Cup at the age of 20. He had won a Tri Nations and a British and Irish Lions series at the age of 22. He needed something to rekindle the enthusiasm of the schoolboy who won his first Test cap a year after finishing his schooling. He went to Paris very much a young man with a sheltered view of the world and return a mature young man with a very different view of the world, of his own country and of his responsibility to his chosen profession.
Steyn, had he stayed in South Africa, may at 26 years old have been considering giving it all up and playing out the final four years of his career in a less demanding Japanese club environment for huge financial gain. He may have given up on the ideal of Bok rugby and contributing to rugby within South Africa because seven successive years of scrutiny and intensity within the South African rugby landscape had drained him and left him exhausted, fatigued and flat.
His move to France turned a boy into the man who John Plumtree has now entrusted with the captaincy at the Sharks.
Plumtree said Steyn was a leader of men, a player with vast experience, in South Africa and abroad, and a winner. He also knew what it meant to be a professional.
It is a fantastic endorsement from Plumtree but also reward for a player who never betrayed South African rugby and also never betrayed his love for the game. Instead he recognised what he needed to reinvent his enthusiasm and to challenge his comfort zone.
Steyn is just one example of how leaving South Africa for a short term gave him an appetite for a longer contribution to the game in South Africa.
Steyn’s story is one that hopefully continues to challenge the outdated and simply outrageous belief that a player who leaves South Africa to play abroad sells out on South African rugby and should be treated as a traitor. Judge a South African player on what he offers this country’s national rugby and not on the country in which he decides to get reward for his rugby talent.
Supporter mindsets must change because the professional status of the player has ensured that their mindsets also had to change.
By Mark Keohane
312 Comments
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13 Feb 2013, 08:52 am
@stormersboy-199: Jimi, Janis J, Led Zep, & Cream – the bizniz
& someone mentioned Joe Cocker – yeah, he’s right up there as well
13 Feb 2013, 08:53 am
@the curse-200:
Ha nice one, Eden park was great in those days especially when we were winning there regularly at cricket, it’s overpriced and lacks atmosphere these days.
13 Feb 2013, 08:58 am
@NZINCHINA-202: had lots of good times there and seem to see special things whenever there..
greenichs double century
walking past Joel garner
Jeff Wilson almost salvaging a win vs Aus
try from the end of the earth
North Harbours first game at the ground
even been fortunate enough to use the indoor nets there..
13 Feb 2013, 08:59 am
@Angostura-201: Yes, everything Clapton did until the end of Derek and the Dominos mostly. Zep are my favourite rock band, anything Jimmi Page does really.
13 Feb 2013, 09:00 am
apologiers for misspelling Greenidge
13 Feb 2013, 09:04 am
@the curse-203:
Yer great stuff I was also at that French test and was lucky enough to catch the 87′ WC final from the terraces 16 bucks the ticket price was.
13 Feb 2013, 09:05 am
@NZINCHINA-183: In my opinion only at 8…..he is not the young tearaway opensider anymore…..
13 Feb 2013, 09:08 am
@NZINCHINA-206: was a corporate ticket for the French game, seated behind the posts right behind the final pass before the try was scored
16 dollar ticket to a WC final, fark…
13 Feb 2013, 09:12 am
behind the final pass = before the final pas..
had a head on view of the whole movement, still one of my greatest rugby watching moments..
13 Feb 2013, 09:13 am
@Angostura-201:
Without Googling. Clapton, Ginger Baker and…..? I always forget the lead vocalist and Bass player.
13 Feb 2013, 09:13 am
Pops tickets were resonable in those days, we used to have season tickets and in the first few years of super rugby it included all the games including the finals and all cricket for $300
13 Feb 2013, 09:14 am
Pops tickets were reasonable in those days, we used to have season tickets and in the first few years of super rugby it included all the games including the finals and all cricket for $300 in the old north stand not sure what they go for now.
13 Feb 2013, 09:18 am
@NZINCHINA-212: Im sure if they did that type of thing again we’d see more people at the ground… thing of the past though unfortunately..
catch you another time NZinC..
13 Feb 2013, 09:18 am
Cheers Pops.
13 Feb 2013, 09:20 am
Jack Bruce bass player for Cream
Ginger Baker married a colored goose and living in Cape Town I’m told.
13 Feb 2013, 09:20 am
@David-210: Jack Bruce. legend.
13 Feb 2013, 09:23 am
absolutely stormersboy…
i’ll definitely download it from iTunes…
@David-210:
that’s not so ‘strange bru’…
we all do…
jack bruce..
13 Feb 2013, 09:24 am
Grant Meyer will never pick him they’d lynch him in Pretoria.
13 Feb 2013, 09:24 am
@skopdiekan-215:
@stormersboy-216:
aaargh…
i shouldn’t dither…
13 Feb 2013, 09:25 am
Nope google tells me she’s from Zimbabwe – Ginger Bakers wife.
13 Feb 2013, 09:26 am
@ufo-217: You really need to watch it, It’s a live recording, not even sure he’s released an album yet.
You going to the blues festival in kleinmond 1-2 march? Dan Patlansky is playing. He’s the closest thing to Stevie Ray Vaughn I’ve heard. Absolutely brilliant. Natasha meister will perform too,
13 Feb 2013, 09:26 am
@skopdiekan-215:
think he’s out near franschhoek…
but was an eruption a little while ago when she apparently stole 100s of k from him…
or so he said…
13 Feb 2013, 09:27 am
@NZINCHINA-218: I am sure Heyneke will do what he deems best, and I stress I will only back Luke in the Bok team if he shows the form to warrant selection….
13 Feb 2013, 09:30 am
@ufo-222: yep seems he got caught up with the wrong set off the internet .. poor dude seeking love and finding trouble instead. Out in the midst of the snooty white polo set in the Wine Vallei of the Wynland.
13 Feb 2013, 09:32 am
@stormersboy-221:
i will do SB… (listen to reignwolf…)
no… didn’t know it is on…
i need to get on the right email lists… !!
but yeah… dan patlansky is excellent… good to know we have musos like him in sa…
13 Feb 2013, 09:32 am
Grant it will get very interesting if his form warrants selection, KEO will be doing cartwheels a million hits guaranteed.
13 Feb 2013, 09:33 am
@ufo-222: He is in the Tulbagh area, many issues …….
13 Feb 2013, 09:34 am
@skopdiekan-224:
yeah, he certainly did…
13 Feb 2013, 09:35 am
@SuperStirrer-227:
thanks man… wasn’t sure…
13 Feb 2013, 09:36 am
@skopdiekan-224: who is Sixto Rodriques?
13 Feb 2013, 09:37 am
@Transformation-230:
sugarman…
13 Feb 2013, 09:41 am
for stormers fans…
Cape Town – The most suitable replacement for injured lock Eben Etzebeth is weighing heavily on the minds of the Stormers’ brains trust ahead of their opening Super Rugby fixture against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
The Springbok second-rower has been sidelined with an ankle injury for the next two months and there is no obvious replacement, although several players such as De Kock Steenkamp, Rynhardt Elstadt and Don Armand have strong claims.
Lions recruit Michael Rhodes plays lock and flank, and the South African under-20 star Ruan Botha is also in the squad.
“Don proved very reliable during our Currie Cup campaign and there is also the option of moving Elstadt from flank to lock,” Stormers coach, Allister Coetzee, said on Tuesday.
“Michael Rhodes hasn’t started training yet and De Kock Steenkamp is a reliable player. We will have to make a quick decision and we are mindful that nowadays the game is not necessarily won by the starting XV, but rather by the match-day 22.
“That is why the bench players are so important and our options must be such that there should not be a problem with guys slotting in.”
Coetzee said that the situation of flank Schalk Burger could influence the lock selection. Burger has not fully recovered from a calf strain, which caused him to miss out on warm-up match action.
However, Coetzee said Burger would probably be ready to join training on Wednesday or Thursday.
“I’m very pleased to say that there has been a big improvement in Schalk’s condition and we’re expecting him to train with the squad in the next day or two.
“The latest tests show that he’s fine and he’s ready to train in a contact-controlled environment.”
Flyhalf Elton Jantjies is back in Cape Town after a spell of compassionate leave.
“We are very glad to have Elton back and he’s shown that he’s ready to go,” said Coetzee.
“He’s been training on his own and he looks in good nick, we all know Elton’s abilities and he’ll go from strength to strength over the next few training sessions. His big challenge is to get match fit.”
Coetzee said Currie Cup player-of-the-year Deon Fourie, who played most of the 2012 campaign at flank, would be considered for the hooker position for the Bulls clash.
“Deon will stay at hooker, at least for the time being and we’ll know that he’s an option for a flank berth. Martin Bezuidenhout will be the reserve hooker.
“There is great excitement in the squad for the Bulls match because it poses a big challenge for us, especially at Loftus,” he said.
13 Feb 2013, 09:41 am
@ufo-225: This will get you started…
http://www.bigblues.co.za/
13 Feb 2013, 09:42 am
@Transformation-230: Sixto Rodriguez is the songwriter singer who inspired the SA hippy generation with an album called Cold Fact which was pressed under licence in JHB from Mowtown in early 70′s and he never even knew he was selling records here till Segermann a Cape town musicologist ‘rediscovered’ him and brought him out here a few times to perform for his long idolizing incognito fans.
Quite a tale of bitter sweet emotions cause his stuff was good but never recognized in the main stream USA music society.
13 Feb 2013, 09:42 am
@NZINCHINA-226: He will have to play out of his socks in a pack that may take some strain though….and players like Duane Vermeulen , Kanko and Keegan Daniels, together with new guns like Carr, will make it difficult for him….
13 Feb 2013, 09:44 am
@stormersboy-233:
awesome bud…
thanks…!
13 Feb 2013, 09:45 am
@ufo-236: Anytime!
13 Feb 2013, 09:45 am
Both Rodriguez and Shawn Phillips were big hits in SA yet never made it big in the USA.. shows SA hippies maybe had better taste than their USA counterparts.
13 Feb 2013, 09:46 am
@grant10-235: Watson won’t make it in Meyers plans.. forget it.. won’t happen.. not with Meyer.
13 Feb 2013, 09:46 am
Grant you have some very good players at 8 but nobody is so far ahead of the pack that it would be impossible to crack the side, would suit me as he’s not a viable test lineout option so one less jumper to worry about.
13 Feb 2013, 09:51 am
All valid points Keo.
But on the flip, would you tune in week after week to watch Super 15 if there’s no Etzebeth, Kolisi, Hougaardt, Lambie, Goosen, Brussouw, Coenie DP, Beast, Bismarc, Jannie Dup etc etc
or in NZ
No Nonu, Jane, Cruden, Dagg, Ranger, Franks, A. Smith, C. Smith, J. Sevea etc etc
or in Aus
Pocock and uhm… ja
You get my point?
13 Feb 2013, 09:52 am
@skopdiekan-239: I think Heyneke is happy with Duanne…..as long as he does not revert to Spies I am comfortable.
@skopdiekan-239: Yes….that is a problem, especially without Juan Smith….Boks always like the 2 at the back of the lineout option…..so normally the 7 and 8 are ‘ bigger ‘ units…..Watson doesent fit that bill
13 Feb 2013, 09:52 am
@stormersboy-216: Jack Bruce a very good musician, actually the trio of them all excellent
13 Feb 2013, 09:52 am
@NZINCHINA-240: Sorry….my last post meant for you
13 Feb 2013, 09:54 am
@wpstormerbok-241:
Fans would lose interest with too much high profile players moving abroad and teams never settling to build dynasties as we call it.
It’s difficult to compare Euro Football history with Rugby traditions as you can take the entire Stormers team and place them in Toulouse/Toulon jerseys, that doesn’t mean the whole of CPT will be tuning into the Heineken Cup any time soon.
13 Feb 2013, 09:54 am
Personally I would be hesitant to play Watson and Brussow in the same loose trio….
13 Feb 2013, 09:54 am
@Angostura-243: There’s some footage of Jack Bruce playing with Gary Moore from a couple of years ago. Worth a look.
13 Feb 2013, 09:55 am
@stormersboy-199:
Thanks, I checked it out— he can certainly make that Gibson talk–amazing really- real dark modern blues. Incredible sound, even without the drums and bass. Seems he is a canadian and has now started to record?
13 Feb 2013, 09:58 am
@grant10-246: so would I – but Louw & Watson, would do, together a big brute at No7
13 Feb 2013, 09:59 am
@stormersboy-247: Thx, will do
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