Fiery Steyn too hot for some Bok coaches

IT is official. Francois Phillipus Lodewyk Steyn has the longest Springbok career of them all, having recently overtaken Victor Matfield and Os du Randt. And what a journey it has been for the precocious “lightie” way back in 2006 to the “hardebaard” (hard beard) of 2022.

The 35-year-old’s career spans 15 years and 310 days since he debuted on the left wing for Jake White’s Boks against Ireland in Dublin.

He was the youngest player to debut for the Boks in the modern era (19 years, 181 days), a record he still holds — and in his first seven matches for South Africa, he would score three tries and kick four drop goals.

The young Steyn scorched to 50 caps for South Africa in record-breaking time, that milestone arriving against Argentina in Cape Town in 2012. He was 25.

The question, then, is why is he “only” on 77 caps, 10 years later?

The problem is that often a fierce flame is deemed to burn too brightly by some and they attempt to snuff it out, and not once but twice Steyn fell foul of the Springbok hierarchy — first coach Peter de Villiers decided in 2011 that Steyn was too pushy about the position he wanted to play, and then SA Rugby and Steyn fell out over a contract issue in 2014.

That was when Heyneke Meyer was the coach.

The Boks were in Durban preparing for a Test against Wales, with Steyn in the mix for the first time in two years, when he suddenly got into his car and sped off in a rage and into what would be five years in the international wilderness.

The issue was medical insurance for the Paris-based Steyn and he and SA Rugby could not agree on terms. There were many who pointed a finger at the “hot-headed” Steyn, but his friends will testify that he is an intensely private man who is not driven in the least by ego and is a man of strong principles.

But let’s go back to the beginning…

Steyn comes from farming stock in Aliwal North and his father sent him to Grey College in Bloemfontein. It was while at that famous rugby nursery that he watched Jannie de Beer on television kicking five drop goals against England at the Stade de France to propel the Boks into the semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup.

The youngster was inspired and he spent endless hours practising drop goals and goal kicking on the school fields, and he would indeed one day win Test matches for South Africa with his kicking brilliance.

One occasion was when he came on as a substitute at Newlands against the Wallabies in 2007, and from the touchline he nailed two drops at the death to defeat George Gregan’s team.

Steyn joined the Sharks straight from school and they sent Steyn to the IRANZ Rugby Academy in New Zealand, run by All Blacks legend Murray Mexted.

There he was schooled in backline play by the great All Blacks flyhalf, Grant Fox, who also refined Steyn’s goal-kicking.

I recall well in 2009 Fox being quoted in the Kiwi media after Steyn had kicked three mammoth penalty goals to spearhead the Boks’ Tri-nations win in Hamilton.

Fox said wryly of Steyn, who was christened the “rocket launcher” by the local media: “I did too good a job!”

But it has not all been sunshine and roses for Steyn.

No Sharks fan will forget his impetuosity in the 2007 Super 12 final in Durban when he fluffed an easy conversion attempt of Albert van den Berg’s try.

The kick should have been taken by Butch James but Steyn rushed up and grabbed the ball in a state of youthful exuberance, and then rushed the kick, and from the restart, the Bulls scored the seven-pointer they needed to seize the spoils.

Not long ago, Steyn admitted that he still has the occasional sleepless night because of that rush of blood to the head.

But later in 2007, Steyn’s despair exploded into ecstasy when he was chosen to replace injured Jean de Villiers in the Boks’ World Cup team and he nailed a crucial long-range penalty in the victorious final to redeem himself.

Steyn has certainly had his ups and downs in a roller-coaster career that will screech to a halt in Paris at next year’s World Cup, where he will be bidding for a third gold medal — no player in the history of the game has won three World Cups.

Steyn last week mentioned that at the beginning of his career, “I had to sit so far in front of the team bus I was practically on the steps.” Fifteen years and 77 Tests later, and having played every position in the backline for the Boks apart from scrumhalf, he owns the bus!