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'He isn't selfish in that regard': What Boks love most about Steyn
The Springboks have paid a fulsome tribute to veteran Frans Steyn, the longest-serving South African international whose 15th year in international rugby will this Saturday see him take a place on his country’s bench for their Autumn Nations Series match versus Scotland. It was November 2006 when the now 34-year-old made his Test debut, playing against Ireland in Dublin.
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Now having outstripped Victor Matfield as his country’s longest-serving player in the modern era, Steyn is ready to provide backup at Murrayfield a week after he came on in early in the Springboks win over Wales and put in an excellent performance.
That was Steyn’s fifth appearance in 2021 and the 72nd in his long career. He has started just four times in his most recent 19 outings for the Springboks but coach Jacques Nienaber has hailed the role the veteran is continuing to play with the 2019 World Cup champions. “Frans is brilliant,” enthused the coach who has chosen Steyn on the bench in South Africa’s last three matches.
“If you look at our selection policy you firstly have got to be aligned with the mindset of the Springboks and Frans is 100 per cent aligned. He played the second half against the All Blacks and then after twelve minutes he entered the field last weekend against Wales and he put a man of the match performance in.
“Before that, he only played 186 minutes in the ten Test matches we had available. Although he knows we are giving other players opportunities, he is there fulfilling his role. It is tough. He is still unbelievable competitive so it is tough for him to sit there but he knows his role, he knows what we are trying to do as a group and he has bought into that.
Jacques Nienaber has issued a warning to Springboks fans who think next Saturday will be easy#SouthAfrica #SCOvRSA #AutumnNationsSeries #Springboks #Scotland https://t.co/wXWkPVgMIu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 9, 2021
“He is not selfish in that regard. He bought into the bigger cause of the Springboks. It’s not about Frans, it is what is best for the Springboks. In this whole year he has maybe missed two or three training sessions in the beginning when we went overseas, he had a toe injury and we managed him, but other than that he has done every single minute on the training field. He is not a guy that backs off training.
“He is 15 years in the game and doesn’t expect special treatment. He always trains which is an awesome thing. And then he is a brilliant rugby player and experience counts for a lot as you could see on Saturday with the performance that he put in. To sum it up, great mindset buying into the team’s mentality, trains every single day and then he is a good rugby player, a brilliant rugby player.”
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“A lot of the time, decisions are made that are not best for South African rugby”
– @fsteyn12 tells @JLyall93 ??? why things must change for @Springboks rugby to fully realise its value. Also beers with Prince Harry and coming home from @MHR_officiel https://t.co/yOXy255JCn— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 5, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments