Bring back Bakkies

Bakkies Botha has signed a two-year contract extension with Toulon.

The former Bulls lock joined the French club after the 2011 World Cup. While he struggled with an Achilles injury early on, he has emerged as a regular starter and key player for Toulon.

He’s helped them to the top of the French Top 14 standings after nine wins from the opening 11 rounds. They are also in first place in Pool 6 of the European Cup after two straight wins.

Botha, who was committed until 2013, will stay at the club until the end of 2015.

Toulon will have three South African-born players in their squad next season in Botha, skipper Joe van Niekerk and utility forward Danie Rossouw, who arrives from Japanese club champions Suntory Sungoliath.

Come on Meyer get Bakkies back fas a key player for the Boks. Imagine Bakkies and Etzebeth as our locks and Bissie at 2 etc. The abs will disolve into a big puddle wetting themselves!

Danie Rossouw was also a player that should have stayed on a bit. All this will give time for the young crop like Du Toit to step up.

Bakkies is an all time great and carried wee victor for a decade (107 kg) What a pity bakkies also isnt a 21 year old. He and Etzebeth would unquestionably have been the greatest lock pairing the world has seen.

I do hope the matfield groupies in watching Etzebeth at work are getting some idea as to what really constitutes a great lock. For some very weird reason ou matfield blinded them to the greatness of Bakkies. Super con artist work by victor.

As much as Bakkies and Eben would make any other lock pairing in the world shake in their boots, Bakkies is too old now, we need to look forward and get our young up and coming locks experienced at test level, Bakkies just does not have enough seasons left in his legs.

Beeno

What do you want to achieve here?   A geriatric retreat for old Rugby Players perhaps.   Botha is no investment for the 2015 WC - so get real please. 

its time to let go beeno he is to old and cant really survive another RWC. it might be a good idea to have him in the squad from a mentorship point of view but we need to build for the future and eben is as good a replacement as any

Beeno, you know the only one wetting themselves were the Bok fans after the last spanking delivered to the Boks in their backyard!!!!  In fact I swear you were one of the ones shown on TV leaving early in shame as the score mounted, going to get some adult diapers maybe?  Seriously though Bakkies is having a great career in Europe, but ask yourself Beeno where is he in the pecking order of locks, if he is in the top 3 or 4 then surely the coach would have tried to have him stay in SA, I say let him go out on top....of Jimmy Cowan's back...(sorry couldn't resist that).

 Bakkies and Eztbeth also play in the same position, standing 2nd in the lineout.

It is usually the number 4 lock who is the best lineout jumper, although the Stormers have talked about transforming Eztbeth into a number 4 lock as he is athletic and his is a monster enforcer. Would have been good if Bakkies was a bit younger, although I am not 100% certain he will be finished come world cup time.

HasBeen what you have never grasped is the general play Matfield provided....on defence and attack as a linking player. He was the one South African tight forward who exceeded the ABs in ball handling skills. And he was a superb defender, witness his RWC saving tackle on Mathew Tait.

You can't have two number 4 lock types. This notion of grunt is vastly overrated. For example, Jannie's side of the scrum was wheeled every time by illegal tactics. But who was scrumming behind him...Etzebeth.

Victor got the lineout ball to the flyhalf faster than any other lock I have seen......by dropping it into the passing zone of the scrummie without any delay at all. It was a beautiful thing.

In my view Matfield was the greatest lock to play the game.

Agreed Moz on Matfield, but good old Beenkop is too stupid to grasp the concept. He will bang on about Matfield weighing 107kg, which probably what he weighed when he started as a 19 year old, the concept of gym work over 15 years escaped him as well.

Bakkies and Matfield have to go down as the best lock pair ever. Perfect combo, enforcer and athlete

bakkies and matfield was the best lock combination the world has ever seen. the rock hard mongrel lock bundled with a more mobile line out focused thinking lock. that is by its very nature a perfect combination much like a open sider combining with a blindside ball carrier type flank.

rugby is all about combinations and how certain players compliment other players skills. to be fair beeno is weight obsessed and think that a toned strong 107 kg frame is worth much more than a 120 kg dead weight. when your main focus is line out ball it makes no sense being to heavy seeing that the props still need to pick up that weight hey. i never saw a bok scrum go backwards with botha and mafield in the engine room. ask any have decent forwards coach the main power from a scrum comes from the locks.

bashing a player because of his weight is very shortsighted sorry to say.

Problem with the stupid Beenkop is that he failed to acknowledge that Matfield got bigger as the years passed. One only needed to look at him to realise he did not weigh 107kg's. Hell that would make Frans 3kgs heavier and Jaque Fourie 2 kg ligher - only a complete idiot would draw this conclusion.

By the time Matfield retired he was about 115kg's

A quick google and we have Matfield at 115kg

http://newsodrome.com/rugby_news/victor-matfield-100-tests-19941301

What a complete load of utter bulldust.

Firstly ou Mike leads the way into error. Who said anyhting about Bakkies as an investment for the 2015 WC! I am speaking of the short term. Bakkies has a lot to offer in more ways than one.

Next ou snapster. How many times do I have to enlighten you to some FACTS. Wee matfield is shown on the bulle website and on SA Rugny.net (the official home of the Springboks) as weighing in at 108 kg. Replying to questions on twitter last year matfield told folk he actually weighed 107 kg. Then early this year when it was being mooted that he would play again for the Boks there were concerns he was just to light as his weight had dropped to 102 kg!!!! This after a few months of not playing. 

No ou snapsters problem is simply this. He knows enough to know a 107 kg stringbean lock could never cut it. Junadre Kruger - the lighest forward in the Bok pack at 110 kg cant quite cut it as an authoratative lock as snasper thimself has said. But string bean victor at 107 kg can. Bwahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaha  talk about having painted yourself into a corner where the only way out is to deny the true weight of matfield!

Yet still there are still some you cant recognise what a great lock is all about -eg Bakkies or Etzebeth - and still try to make out this total show pony was the greatest. Hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaha sidesplitting stuff from the oaks! Good riddance to bad rubbish I say.

Next ou mucher says  "i never saw a bok scrum go backwards with botha and mafield in the engine room".  What lunacy is this . I have for years lamented the fact the Boks have not scrummed their weight etc. Under Jake at the World Cup we were shoved around by Argentina and England. Against England only having a big number 8 in Danie Rossouw (as recommended by Beeno) to clean up behind our fast retreating pack saved the day.

The French als have shoved us around as well. I am hoping that Pieter De Villiers will update us on modern scrumming techiniques.

No our scrum has not been good. I am not entirely blaming wee matfield but his 107 stringbean frame didnt help and neither did it help us to play a tight 4 all these years. Munchers type delusions are common when matfield is discussed. What a conman!

REMEMBER THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF THE LONG SUFFERING BOK GREAT BAKKIES BOTHA: VICTOR DOESNT ALWAYS PLAY IN THE BACKLINE. HAahahahahahahaha what a classic!

A pap lock and a great one like bakkies doesnt represent balance.   Crazy really.

Jannike being wheeled had nothing to do with the locks Moz. Pleeeeeease!!!!!! Re his try saving tackle. Well wha tis so grea tabout that. He was playing out in the backline far from the hard graft and made a tackle. I would say he was a poor backline player and stufffed up many a backline move.  But the point is he was picked as a tight forward for crying in a bucket.

I have seen matfield tackling backs and going back meters. Bwahahahahahaha lets keep it vaguely real.

So Beenkop are you saying that link that has Matfield at 115kg's is just a load of nonsense, that they sucked the figure from nowhere - you stupid prick

Actually HasBeen I have seen Matfield rip props off the tryline, with one bionic, mummy wrapped arm!

Dear Dr Moz one to many toots I am afraid. Sobre judgement requires sober minds - hahahhahahahaha. victor has to be the most unphysical lock ever to play for the Boks, a super 15 franchise, a vodacom side and a club third team!!

Always remember also that when he went to France his club side there recognised he was no lock and tried him on the flank (H ewas too slow there)  and then sent him home. A complete flop.

No thankfully those bad days are behind us to some degree. I say some as juandre although a far better lock than wee victor  is not the answer. The idea of us needing one pap lock to balance matters has to be dismissed as complete lunacy.  I am hoping young Du Toit is another Etzebeth type. May we never ever again see a matfield type lock playing for the Boks. I am comforted by the thought it could never happen again given how bad matfield was. A compete abberation. Fooled so many too!! Even dispite all the facts - ou snapster still thinks matfield doesnt know his own weight! Bwahahahahahahaha how delusional do you get!!

 End of story!