The man who kicked the Springboks to victory over the Lions last month will not start this weekend’s Tri Nations clash with New Zealand in Bloemfontein.
Morne Steyn broke Lions’ hearts with a last-minute penalty in the series-clinching 28-25 victory in Pretoria on June 27 but has only been named on the bench for Saturday’s match against the All Blacks.
Steyn played a key part in the Bulls’ Super 14 triumph this season and then went on to make his senior South African debut as a replacement in the first Test against the Lions in Durban.
He again replaced Ruan Pienaar during the second-half at Loftus Versfeld a week later and immediately became a national hero with a 54-metre injury-time penalty that ended the Lions’ hopes of repeating their series success of 1997.
But despite then starting the third and final Test against Ian McGeechan’s men on July 4, Steyn has been dropped by Springbok head coach Peter de Villiers who has instead opted to play Pienaar against the world’s number one ranked team.
De Villiers has made six changes in all from the side that was beaten 28-9 by the Lions three weeks ago, with JP Pietersen, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Pierre Spies and Bakkies Botha rejoining Pienaar in the starting line up.
Odwa Ndungane, Jongi Nokwe, Wynand Olivier, Ryan Kankowski, Johann Muller and Steyn all drop out of the side having started against the Lions last time out, although Olivier, Steyn and Kankowski are included among the replacements.
South Africa
15. Frans Steyn (30)
14. JP Pietersen (26)
13. Jaque Fourie (45)
12. Jean de Villiers (48)
11. Bryan Habana (48)
10. Ruan Pienaar (30)
9. Fourie du Preez (46)
8. Pierre Spies (22)
7. Juan Smith (57)
6. Heinrich Brüssow (4)
5. Victor Matfield (83)
4. Bakkies Botha (57)
3. John Smit (84) – captain
2. Bismarck du Plessis (24)
1. Tendai Mtawarira (13)
Replacements
16. Chiliboy Ralepelle (4)
17. Jannie du Plessis (7)
18. Danie Rossouw (38)
19. Ryan Kankowski (8)
20. Ricky Januarie (35)
21. Morné Steyn (3)
22. Wynand Olivier (22)
NB international caps are included in brackets.
