It was a strange but clear phenomenon; the Bulls getting their S14 campaign back on track for three consecutive years the moment they made Morné the first choice no. 10. This was of course in the years when Steyn was still liefling’s understudy.

In 2007 Morné began the season in the starting team with liefling being injured at the time; the bulls had a solid start and went on to win the competition. It was also the year -2007- that New Zealand decided to rest their All Blacks for the first part of the S14 season and that took the gloss, to some extend off the Bulls, won. The role that Morné’s played in that victory year got lost in the post won analysis and euphoria but also by the fact that Hougaard did came back and had one of his better seasons in the S14. Two years later -2009- the bulls won the S14 again after a year in between -2008- of coming to terms with a new coach. In the second S14 victory -2009- Steyn became a Loftus hero and he was so dominant that he literally forced the Springbok selectors to take notice and pick him for the series against the British and Irish Lions. What happened after that is history and one of those feel good rugby stories were hard work paid off for the second in line who was generally regarded as not being good enough.

However, there is still a tendency that Morné is seen as a sort of stand in no. 10 in the Springbok team and not the real deal. Morné certainly is not as fleet of feet as Quade Cooper neither is he a shrewd tactician nor has he demonstrated the mercurial running of a Gitua or Cooper. This last few weeks Morné had a few less perfect performances and some are quick to jump on that arguing; he was a one season wonder; he can’t perform away from Loftus; he is one-dimensional.

I’ve sampled some stats and created a few interesting tables in order to compare Morné with not only other no. 10’s in this year’s S14 but also with one of the greats of Springbok rugby.

Table 1: Comparison of the S14 flyhalf’s of 2010. (this table was created before the weekends games)

One can see which teams are succeeding in creating tries with backline play. It is quite interesting that the Bulls, Blues and the Reds seem to be doing well while the Brumbies and Chiefs are struggling badly. The fact that the Blues are not at the top of the S14 log is also interesting given the fact that they scored the second most tries with their backs.

Stormers and Crusaders figures are mediocre. The Stormers backline tries where also often the result of individual brilliance rather than creative backline play.

Most important in terms of Morné Steyn is that his outside backs are outscoring the backs of all the other teams. If this is an indication of one-dimensional no. 10 play then one-dimensional 10 play is probably what needs to be promoted.

This is obviously only half the picture as forward dominance create space for innovative  backline play but in essence this clearly demonstrate that the bulls have changed the way they play; they are no longer a 10-man rugby side. To me it seems that the Bulls are by far leaders in the S14 when it comes to creativeness/innovativeness and adaptability to rule changes and with regard to out foxing defensive patterns. What is most impressive is that this adaptability is not restricted to either forward or backline play; they demonstrate constant adaptability and creativeness with both forward and backline play.

Brumbies on the other hand renowned for their creative and intelligent backline play were totally unable to adjust and have scored zero tries so far this season with their backline.

More refined comparison with Quade Cooper

To be honest the only other contender in this year S14 is Quade Cooper. He has really set the Reds alight along with Will Genia and is surely a very strong contender for the Aussie 10 Jumper. It has to be said though that his defensive efforts in the all too important 10 channel leaves a lot to be desired of.

Table 2: Comparing Morné Steyn with Quade Cooper

Cooper is clearly the better play-maker (11 Tries setup vs 7 for Steyn) and also he made a lot more line breaks (24 vs 10). The try scoring ability is very even at 5 for Morné and 4 for Cooper. Creating go-forward-ball also shows figures in favour of Cooper (32 vs 21)

In the goal kicking department we all know that Morné is way ahead of Cooper.

Defensively, Steyn has made a hell of a lot of tackles while Cooper is often not in his channel to do defending. Cooper is also more prone to lose possession of the ball when making contact (see table below)

Table 3: Steyn and Cooper on defence when Bulls played the Reds

Steyn versus Gerald Bosch

This is an interesting comparison because they played almost the same amount of tests. Steyn played a few more but came up in his first two tests as a reserve. For this comparison I am using the first 9 matches Steyn played as first choice namely started the match. Considering the modern tendency that players are subbed –which did happen with Morné in his first matches- this comparison is quite revealing. Being subbed means of course that he missed out on opportunities to kick penalties, conversions and so forth.

Gerald Bosch		Morné Steyn
Height	1.79m	Height	1.83m
Weight	75kg	Weight	91kg
Tests played	9	Tests played	12  (brackets= first 9 tests)
Tries	0	Tries	1 (1)
Drop kicks	2	Drop kicks	5 (4)
Penalties	23	Penalties	33 (28)
Conversions	7	Conversions	12 (9)
Matches lost	2	Matches lost	4 (3)

Now Gerald Bosch was not considered the best running flyhalf but was definitely regarded as a man who could win a match for you. I don’t think Steyn is in the same class as a tactician or dictator of match outcome but he certainly is outscoring Bosch in every department.

There are those that would argue that Bosch played tougher opposition and that he had less scoring opportunities because the game was played differently; specifically that the Boks now have a style of forcing penalties which was not the case in previous years. So let have a look at that:

1. Bosch played tougher opposition:

This is unfortunately not the case. Bosch played 1 test against the British and Irish Lions; 4 against France and 4 against the 1976 All Blacks. Now France in 1974 and 1975 was a really poor side. Not in the least of the same calibre than the French team of 2009; the same apply with regard to the 1976 All Blacks as compared to the 2009 All Blacks.

Morné played 3 test against the British and Irish Lions; 3 against NZ; 3 against Australia; 1 against France, Italy and Ireland.

In Morné’s first 9 tests he played the Lions, the AB and the Aussies. The Lions were harder opposition than the 74/75 French team and the 2009 AB were also a much better side than the 76 AB.

2. Boks played differently now namely forcing penalties which they did not do in previous years.

I don’t agree with that at all. Bulls went back to traditional Springbok rugby last year and the Springboks of 2009 adopted that style of play.

The Springboks have always been criticised as a one dimensional team forcing penalties. This tendency existed since the time of Bennie Osler. The 1937 and 1951/52 Springbok teams were probably the only Springboks teams in our history whoplayed  more open rugby. Currently we seem to have been able introduce a more balanced approach; playing closer to total rugby; using the forwards or running with the ball in the same game or adjusting to the opposition. In Bosch’s time we won tests with penalties and drop goals. Now we do that and score tries. Here is a comparison of tries scored by the Springboks with Bosch on flyhalf and Morne Steyn on flyhalf.

Boks scored 12 tries (2 – 1974 France; 6 – 1975 France; 4 – 1976 NZ) with Bosch on flyhalf and 16 tries in Morné first 9 tests (excluding Italy and Ireland) that are 6 tries against the Lions; 5 tries against the AB and 5 tries against the Aussies.

That doesn’t look like an exclusively forcing penalty type game to me.

Of course the game has changed. This post was not meant as a comparison in the sense that I want to argue that Steyn is the better player. The idea is to illustrate how well Steyn is doing on the international stage.

Yes the game is played differently to some extend but kicking goals (place, drop) and scoring tries have not changed. You still need to get the ball over the crossbar and you still need to be at the right place at the right time, catch the ball and beat an opponent if you want to score a try.

Bosch is regarded as one of the three great Springboks 10’s the others being Osler and Naas Botha.

Generally speaking Bosch is seen as a greater flyhalf than Steyn. Now I don’t disagree with that mostly because I believe Bosch was a greater general/tactician and game winner.

It was for exactly that reason (my regard for Bosch) that this “comparison” of Morné with Bosch is so interesting and revealing.

The point here is essentially that Steyn is doing exceptionally well and not that he is the better player of the two.