Ken Borland

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on Saturday included three flyhalves and a trio of fullbacks in an expanded 30-man squad for the Springboks’ two home Rugby Championship tests against Australia and New Zealand.

Even Heyneke Meyer is surely no longer in denial and key changes in personnel can be expected in the Springbok squad when it is announced on Saturday night after the seventh round of Currie Cup action.

Chief among these should be at flyhalf. While Meyer has quite rightly pointed to consistency of selection as the basis for success, his faith in Morne Steyn has not paid off. If anything, the hero of 2009 and 2010 is trapped in a downward spiral, his confidence draining away with every outing.

It is surely time for Steyn to take a break from Test rugby and regain his form and confidence in the Currie Cup. The Bulls, in dire straits in that competition, will surely welcome him back into their team with open arms.

The replacement for Steyn in the squad should be Lions pivot Elton Jantjies, the most in-form flyhalf in the country. The longer Meyer ignores the 22-year-old, who steered the Lions against the odds to the Currie Cup title last year, the more fuel he is throwing on the fire of those (like predecessor Peter de Villiers) who are targeting him on transformation grounds.

The starting flyhalf against Australia at Loftus Versfeld next Saturday will inevitably be young and inexperienced, with either Jantjies or Johan Goosen getting the nod, but Meyer has little choice but to grasp the nettle now.

Meyer has waxed lyrical about how he sees the makings of a great flyhalf in Goosen and the 20-year-old has done nothing to suggest otherwise in the half-an-hour of Test rugby he has played thus far. Against a struggling Australian team, at fortress Loftus with a crowd that will be behind him, there won’t be many easier times in which to hand over the baton.

Jantjies also looks like a man for the future of Springbok rugby. He has it all: the ability to spark a backline and a good passing game; a powerful, well-educated and accurate boot; and he is brave and secure in defence.

Pat Lambie is another impressive youngster who has many supporters, but it is perhaps being overly romantic to suggest he should be the Springboks’ starting flyhalf.

At Test level, a flyhalf has to be able to control the game, usually with the boot. While Lambie’s attacking talents are not in doubt, his game management skills still need developing and even the Sharks preferred Freddie Michalak to him at number 10.

But there has been a suggestion that Lambie, who was injured for much of the SuperRugby campaign and has barely featured off the Springbok bench, has been rested from this weekend’s Currie Cup action because Meyer is lining him up to start at fullback.

Zane Kirchner has done little wrong and has been solid and dependable at the back, but Lambie can definitely add more flair and penetration with ball in hand. And he can even stand at flyhalf when the Springboks are on attack.

Kirchner ran just eight metres with the ball in Dunedin and kicked just once, so one can hardly say he is making a big impact at the moment.

Where the Springboks did make a big impact was up front with Adriaan Strauss (15m gained, 4 tackles), Flip van der Merwe (5m, 13 tackles), Francois Louw (11m, 6 tackles) and Willem Alberts (10m, 6 tackles) all boasting impressive statistics.

It is unlikely that Meyer will make any unforced changes to his forwards, having already declared himself happy with their efforts and excited by their potential.

One change is definite, however, with prop Dean Greyling suspended for idiotically hitting Richie McCaw in the face with his forearm. Coenie Oosthuizen will make his return from a neck injury off the bench for the Cheetahs and it will be interesting to see how much game time he gets. Whether it will be enough to convince Meyer that the versatile front-ranker is ready for international rugby remains to be seen.

While Louw’s work-rate was good against the All Blacks, it did rather prove Meyer’s point about fetchers when the Springboks were penalised a dozen times at the ruck and maul. But a stellar display by Heinrich Brussow for the Cheetahs could see him return to favour.

The forwards have done their job in the last two Tests, winning the bulk of possession. But it is now imperative that Meyer chooses a backline to capitalise on that ball, in particular a flyhalf who uses possession a lot more wisely than Steyn has lately.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-09-22-hey-heyneke-meyer-check-your-blind-spot

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer believes the current Springbok team will become stars of the future despite a lean recent run that has seen them lose to New Zealand and Australia and be held to a draw by Argentina.

“I have a special feeling about this team going forward. We’re on the right track and the results will come,” Meyer told journalists at the O.R. Tambo International Airport on Monday after the team’s return from New Zealand, where they were beaten 21-11 by the All Blacks in Dunedin.

“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.

“There were lots of positives from Dunedin, especially from the forwards, and I believe we did enough to win that game. I think it instilled that self-belief in the team that they can beat anyone anywhere,” Meyer said.

South Africa dominated the first 50 minutes of the Rugby Championship test, but missed kicks at goal cost them 20 points.

Flyhalf Morne Steyn, the hero of their 2009 and 2010 campaigns, was responsible for 11 of those missed points and the waning influence of the Springbok backline has also been blamed on the 28-year-old pivot. But Meyer believes Steyn, who has started all seven matches this year under the new coach, still has a future at international level, pointing to the resurgence in form shown by wing Bryan Habana, South Africa’s all-time leading try-scorer who struggled with his form last year and played just six of the Springboks’ nine tests.

“I don’t want to knock individuals but the missed kicks were crucial. Morne 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 Morne well. We’ll look at the situation after this weekend’s Currie Cup matches and then decide who will play,” Meyer said.

Meyer said the way the Springboks dominated the All Blacks in Dunedin showed that the controversial game plan they were using was the right one.

“The guys were very unhappy not to win, but sometimes we’ve played worse rugby in New Zealand and won, it was just the goalkicking 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 half-time, 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 just didn’t put the kicks over. We had them under pressure,” Meyer said.

The Springbok squad for their last two Rugby Championship matches, both at home against Australia in Pretoria on September 29 and New Zealand in Soweto on October 6, will be named on Saturday night after the Currie Cup games have been completed.

South Africa have an outside chance of still claiming the title if they register bonus-point wins in both those home fixtures and the All Blacks lose in Argentina without getting a bonus point.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has a degree in psychology and he will surely need to have sessions with Morne Steyn on the couch – and bring Dean Greyling along for good measure – after South Africa’s infuriating 21-11 loss to the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday.

Meyer has persevered with Steyn at flyhalf for all seven Tests this year, but surely a man of his intellectual capacity and people skills must now realise that the hero of 2009 and 2010 is mentally shattered and devoid of all confidence.

The Springboks wasted 20 points with kicks at goal, with Steyn missing three penalties along with a conversion, while Francois Steyn (2) and Johan Goosen also missed three long-range penalties between them.

It is hard to remember a substitute having a more disastrous impact than Greyling did. The front-ranker clearly needs his head read after conceding some of the stupidest penalties possible on a rugby field, including a shocking assault on the face of Richie McCaw that is bound to have some more serious consequences than the yellow card he was issued with.

The inexperienced Springbok pack was magnificent in a come-of-age performance that saw them match if not edge the All Blacks up front, laying a platform that was ultimately wasted by Morne Steyn and some laborious backline play.

There were some promising signs from the backline, but great try-scoring opportunities were butchered in the fifth minute, on the half-hour and on the hour mark.

With three minutes remaining and the All Blacks 18-11 up, the Springboks were then gifted another golden opportunity when Keven Mealamu threw a lineout ball five metres from his own line straight to Greyling, who promptly dropped the ball.

The Blue Bulls prop should have had the good grace to want to be swallowed whole by the Forsyth Barr Stadium turf, but instead he then cost South Africa even a bonus point for their efforts when he stupidly handled the ball in a ruck, allowing All Blacks flyhalf Aaron Cruden to kick a penalty after the final hooter.

Greyling’s first act after coming on to the field in the 50^th minute was also a blatant hands in the ruck, Cruden’s penalty allowing New Zealand to draw level just two minutes after Bryan Habana’s brilliant individual try.

There were times in the first half when the All Blacks were floundering against the Springboks’ suffocating defence, physicality in the collisions and pressure game. But the goalkicking woes drowned out all conversation about those major positives.

Fullback Israel Dagg’s wonderful attacking instincts saw him feature prominently in the move he finished for the All Blacks’ opening try in the 20^th minute and the hosts led 5-3 at half-time. At that stage, South Africa had already missed 15 points via missed kicks at goal.

But the Springboks regained the lead in the 50^th minute through Habana’s brilliant try. Flip van der Merwe won the lineout throw and, even though Francois Louw stumbled in receiving the pop off the top, he found Habana roaring through on the angle. South Africa’s all-time leading try-scorer burst through the first line of defence before he chipped over the fullback and regathered the ball to score in the right corner.

The next half-hour was dominated by Greyling, although Morne Steyn also kicked away some good attacking ball with aimless kicks. If it were the navy, they would be consigned to port immediately by the good ship South Africa, because their heads are clearly not in the right place.

But there are huge positives to be drawn from the game for the Springboks, even if the result was a major disappointment.

The ferocious performance of the pack, led by flank Willem Alberts and lock Juandre Kruger, is at the head of the list, while the defence was also much improved as the Springboks warded off several dangerous attacking forays by the New Zealand backs.

Springbok rugby may well have moved out of the ICU ward on Saturday and, if Meyer can correctly diagnose where the mental deficiencies are, he may well be able to produce pleasing results in Pretoria and Soweto in coming weeks.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-09-15-crushed-by-the-all-blacks-south-africas-national-facepalm-moment