I am incensed! This Springbok affirmative action policy has to go. How long will Heyneke Meyer persist with selecting players who are clearly out of form when other far more deserving players are left out of the team. No - I'm not talking about the selection of players "of colour".
Thankfully that policy has long since been dropped and all the players "of colour" thoroughly deserve their place in the side on merit What I am talking about is the policy of persisting with selecting clearly out of form Bulls players.
Let's be honest, these out of form Bulls players cost us the game this morning against New Zealand in a game we could have and should have won. Don't get me wrong - some of the Bulls players had a good game.
Flip van der Merwe comes to mind - he had a great, solid game. Francois Hougaardt had an ok game - nothing flash but solid enough. The same applies to Jeandre Kruger. Zane Kirchner blew a golden opportunity for us in the opening minutes with a shocking pass when all Brian Habana would have had to do is fall over the line to score.
And from there onwards it didn't get any better for Kirchner. Morne Steyn AGAIN had a shocking kicking game - he is clearly out of form and it's not doing his confidence any good playing him while he is in this kind of form. He has to be dropped so he can regain some confidence and form in the lower echelons of the Currie Cup.
As for Deon Greyling, the less said the better. Between him and Morne Steyn, they cost us the game. His ill-discipline and clearly stupid choices must be a good reason to drop him.
Now the problem with this, as with our previous quota system is that all the Bulls players are painted with the same brush. None of them can be sure that they are in the side on merit rather than because Heyneke Meyer simply feels comfortable utilising players "he has confidence in". I could accept that excuse for the initial games that Heyneke Meyer had in charge as he had little time to prepare the team - that excuse no longer holds any water.
So even if one of the Bulls has a good game, there will always be questions as to whether they deserve their place in the side. We cannot afford to "carry" players who are not performing.
On the Morne Steyn issue - how many chances will he be given? Like I've said, this is doing him (and the team) more harm than good. Our opposition will certainly take advantage of this - they can continue to infringe knowing that should we get a penalty, our chances of scoring points are 50% at best.
To make matters worse, we have one of the most promising, talented flyhalves sitting on the bench game in and game out. What has Heyneke Meyer got against Patrick Lambie? To keep Morne Steyn on the field for a full 80 minutes (let alone give him a starting berth) over Lambie is simply mind-boggling. Lambie is a game-breaker and our opposition must laugh every time they see our team sheet before the game.
If Heyneke Meyer is not going to change his selection policy and select form players, then perhaps we should be thinking of paying him out of his contract and employing someone who is not so pig-headed and one-dimensional for a coach who can listen to advice and select our best players.
Perhaps we need a foreign coach who is not bound by the shackles of provincialism? Hell, I'm even happy for Pieter de Villiers to come back - at least he purportedly listened to the advice of his senior players.
Having said all this about selection, this is clearly not our only problem. Our kicking game plan is aimless, stale, predictable and plays right into the hands of our opposition. It seems Heyneke Meyer is stuck in the past and unable to move forward with the times.
It's time for a change - the affirmative action policy has to go - and if Heyneke Meyer has to go for that to happen, then so be it.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
