In a piece of news that we all knew about in the back of our minds (but I’m sure most had forgotten about), it’s been confirmed that Frans Steyn has not flown to PE with the erst of the Bok squad.
The Sharks centre, who has been a stand-out player so far in the series, is getting married in Durban this weekend and you’ll recall that part of the deal that saw him agree to come back to the country and play for Heyneke Meyer was that his wedding date was cast in stone, meaning he wouldn’t be available for the third test of the series.
Meyer will be pretty relieved that the series is already tied up at this point; replacing Steyn in this team is going to be pretty hard, for a number of reasons. The first being that Wynand Olivier has hardly set the world alight as a replacement in either of the first two tests and it simply would be a huge gamble to hand the veteran Bull a starting spot right now. With no Juan de Jongh in the squad, the only alternative to Olivier at 12 is to move captain Jean de Villiers back to his more usual inside center position and hand a debut to JJ Englebrecht outside him.
The second problem is that Steyn seems to be the de facto fullback cover in the squad and with Zane Kirchner and Pat Lambie crocked in successive weeks, the coach (who seems to have brought Gio Aplon in under duress) looks likely to have to make changes in the last line of defence too.
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I’d rather see JJ at 13 than Olivier at 12! 😈
Eish .. handing out bok caps to Bulls for the fun off it …
With another 8 or more weeks between now and the Rugby Championship I wonder why Steyn couldn’t have had his wedding on another weekend? It’s not like the international playing schedule wan’t known about for some time now.
With all the forced changes this weekend it’s actually going to be a tough game for the Boks to win, considering how close the last two games have actually been.
@CS (Comment 4) : Try telling a bride that she can’t have her wedding because a rugby match is on…
It’s not ideal but JPP can cover at fullback. Meisiekind has been pretty awful this series, maybe he still has some lingering PTSD from that game where Tuiligi smashed him to pieces on the year end tour.
@CS (Comment 3) : I’ve written an article where Steyn said that one thing he learned in France was that rugby is not the beginning and end of all…now shoosh and let the man have his bigday in peace! 😉
Damnit! Was hoping it was M Steyn. 👿
@Ice (Comment 6) :
You mean let the bride have her day in peace?? 😉
@CS (Comment 3) : He probably had the wedding planned long before he new he would be playing for the Boks again.
@wpw (Comment 8) : no, she meant his last day of piece 😉
@CS (Comment 3) : Quite possibly because when he was planning his wedding he didn’t have a Bok contract and wasn’t guaranteed to be playing for the Boks.
@CS (Comment 3) : On the bright side, he won’t have to take a Saturday off from the Sharks to get married 😉
@lostfish (Comment 12) : Yay!
@Just a Fan (Comment 13) : I bet you’re gutted by this news… 😉
@klempie (Comment 14) : Crying his eyes out that Steyn is off the market… 😈
@lostfish (Comment 15) : her * 😛
@klempie (Comment 14) : *sooo many tears**…
But I am stocked(sp?1) for him though…and at least he chose a VERY special day to get married on..my birthday ! 😀
@klempie (Comment 16) : thank you.. 😀
@Just a Fan (Comment 17) : stoked
@lostfish (Comment 19) : thank you 😳
@Just a Fan (Comment 18) : sorry, my bad.
@Just a Fan (Comment 17) : Which birthday is it? 😛
@klempie (Comment 22) : You never ask a lady her age 😉
@lostfish (Comment 23) : You should talk. You thought she was a he! 😛
@klempie (Comment 24) : Well now I know better 😉
Pienaar can cover 15 surely.
@Shred (Comment 26) : ug – no he can’t
@Shred (Comment 26) :
Why would you if you have Aplon in the mix? Sounds like Joe Pieterson has also received a call from Heyneke.
@klempie (Comment 22) : 38 😕
@lostfish (Comment 23) : That’s kind of you :)..but i gave up on dellusions at the beginning of the Sharks Super 15 campaign 😆
@Shred (Comment 26) : Yes – and he needs the game time too.