Through that process, I realised just how much you need to sacrifice and how much hard work you need to put in if you want to get to the top in this game.”ĪLSO READ: Nigel Owens in talks with SpringboksĪnd that remains his message to this day, to any young aspiring kickers. I put in hours trying to improve my kicking, with the help of the then kicking coach Vlok Cilliers. That’s when it really dawned on me what working hard in this game really means. But when I arrived at the Vodacom Bulls in my under-20 year, coach Heyneke Meyer told me that if I wanted to play at a high level I would have to work harder on my kicking. At Craven Week level, other players kicked. “At school I kicked for my team purely because there wasn’t anybody else. It was really just a case of the more you do something the better you become at it. I kind of grew up on the side of the rugby field with my dad who coached, and I taught myself how to kick. But generally it was a case of me and Ruan taking a few balls and kicking to each other. “My good friend Ruan Pienaar’s dad, Gysie, gave us a few tips and helped us. “I look at my own school career where I just taught myself to kick,” recalled the 38-year-old. Steyn says his own journey as someone he’d describe as a “50-60% quality kicker” when he started out, to becoming the man who with his right boot sealed two series victories for the Springboks against the British and Irish Lions inspired him to launch the MS10 academy.ĪLSO READ: D-Day for Springbok World Cup squad announcement revealed The teams are all getting better and better at this aspect of the game.” Morne Steyn’s message to any young aspiring kickers If your kicking game is weak or your aerial skills are weak you cannot put the other team under pressure. Your counterattack is built on a strong kicking game. In the United Rugby Championship, and generally in the game at the highest level, the kicking game has become increasingly important. “I’ve often seen with teams that when it gets difficult in matches, you can always see a correlation with the kicking game not being up to scratch.
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