Scotland winger Kyle Steyn has spoken glowingly about the Springboks and divulges how he believes Rassie Erasmus has masterminded their success.
The 32-year-old again was born and raised in South Africa earlier than making the transfer north after signing with the Scotland sevens group again in 2018 – Steyn certified to signify Scotland by his mom’s ancestral ties to the nation.
Now Glasgow Warriors’ membership captain and an everyday starter for the nationwide group, Steyn’s danger on Scotland has paid off after he moved north after representing the Griquas in the Currie Cup.
Steyn’s South African father famously headed up Nelson Mandela’s presidential safety element throughout his time period as president, and with a Scottish mom and grandfather, he grew up supporting Scotland and South Africa.
Springboks’ tactical strategy
He detailed a lot of this throughout his interview with ex-Scotland lock Jim Hamilton, the place the speak finally turned to the Springboks’ success underneath Erasmus, who has overseen back-to-back World Cup successes.
Hamilton requested Steyn what South Africa do in a different way that makes them so profitable in worldwide rugby and the Scotland star believes that it’s their angle in the direction of the ways that they deploy.
“It comes back to how the games evolved that nobody can cover everything, every option or every tactic,” Steyn stated.
“It might not be the defining factor, however what I like most about what the South Africans did and what Rassie has carried out there’s that they’ve simply picked two or three issues and backed these 100%.
“They absolutely hang their hats on that, and then they live or die with the risk that comes with that. I just love that attitude, that you’re going to back yourself to make the plays and force opposition to make plays and see if they’ve got what it takes to be able to get around that.”
He referenced Jacques Nienaber’s defensive buildings that was instrumental in South Africa’s cost to 2 World Cup titles.
“When they first started out with that all-out blitz defence, everybody thought it was ludicrous,” he continued.
“There was so many choices out vast to have the ability to get round them and get into the area, however they simply cling their hats on the incontrovertible fact that that’s what they’re going to decide to. And in the event you get round them, then they’re going to hustle again and have the ardour to get again and canopy these choices, too.
“That’s what the recreation calls for now. It’s not like Test matches of outdated, the place you’ll be able to simply kick, kick, kick and take factors and win a recreation that manner.
“The game now is at a level of intensity and a standard that you have to be able to back yourself to make plays and force teams to make plays, and then see if they’ve got the goods to come up with it.”
Best he has performed in opposition to
Hamilton additionally posed the stock-standard fan query of ‘who is the best player you’ve performed once more’ to Steyn and he picked out a South African.
“Cheslin Kolbe,” he replied.
“He wasn’t on the wing the day that I performed in opposition to him; he was at full-back, and it was a kind of moments as a Glasgow group that we needed to be taught from as a result of Toulon put us to the sword.
“He was at full-back and went crazy, class player, class competitor, really tough, really tough guy to play against.”
While Kolbe is famend for his tempo, footwork and aerial means, he’s additionally deceptively robust and every now and then will sit defenders down along with his ball carriers.
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Hamilton raised this a part of Kolbe’s skillset with Steyn, prompting the Glasgow skipper to liken the Bok to one in every of his Test teammates, Darcy Graham.
“It’s quite similar to Darcy as well because you’re so worried about the space around you that you almost don’t set yourself a good base, so that when they decide to take you on, they’ll get the better of you more often than not,” he stated.
“It’s the fact that Kolbe has got both [pace and power] and that he’s just so competitive. He digs in, and when he plays for South Africa, no matter the size of the winger he comes up against, you know more often than not he’s going to come out on top.”
