Morné Steyn (born 11 July 1984) is a South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player who plays as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for the Bulls and played for the South Africa national team, up until his retirement from international test rugby in October 2021. Steyn has won an Under-21 World Cup, three Currie Cups, three Super Rugby titles, one Super Rugby unlocked, one Tri-Nations, one French Top 14 title and two British and Irish Lions series.

Playing career

With the Bulls, he was a member of the team that won

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. In 2009 and 2010, he was the leading point scorer in the league. In the 2009 semi-final against the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

, he kicked four drop goals, a league record for a single game. From 2013 to 2020, he played in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

for

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...

. He made his debut on 30 August 2013 in a 38–3 win over

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Sp ...

. Coming on in the 60th minute, he scored four points by converting two tries.

South Africa

In early 2009, South Africa coach Peter de Villiers stated his preference for Ruan Pienaar in the Springbok number 10 jersey despite Steyn performing very well in the Super 14 tournament. Steyn was on the replacement bench during the second Test of the

2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa The 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009. The British & Irish Lions played a three-match Test series against South Africa, with matches ...

, when Pienaar's kicking game disintegrated. Steyn replaced Pienaar and immediately slotted two conversions and two penalties – including one from in the dying minutes of the game, which gave the Springboks the match and the series in dramatic fashion. On 1 August 2009, South Africa beat New Zealand 31–19 in their 2009 Tri Nations Series match in Durban. On only his fifth cap and his second start, Steyn scored all of the Springboks' 31 points (8 penalty kicks, as well as converting his own try). This broke several records, among them the record for the most points by an individual in a Tri Nations match, previously held by

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national t ...

with his 29 points against Australia in 1999 (one conversion and nine penalties). Steyn scored the most points by a player at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

, 62 points. In August 2021, having not played for South Africa since 2016, he was selected as a substitute for the deciding third test against the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

. He replaced

Handré Pollard Handré Pollard (born 11 March 1994) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national team and Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby. His regular playing positions are fly-half, whe ...

in the second half, and, as he had in 2009, kicked two late penalties to help South Africa win the game and the series.

References

External links

*
Profile on itsrugby.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Morne Living people 1984 births South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Cape Town Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players Stade Français players Afrikaner people South African expatriate rugby union players South African expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in France