Greatest Match-Ups

Who were you most excited to see head-to-head? For me, though I was quite young, the Bok and All Black front rows of the '95 to '97 era. That was when I last really saw the Bok scrum as supernatural force to be reckoned with. Joost vs Marshall, the clever Breyton vs Lomu, Nonu vs Jean, Matfield vs Vickerman, Larkham vs Carter. There've been some great match-ups over the years. Perhaps my favourite was Fourie vs Jacobs in 2009, literally running right over the hapless Jacobs four times! Or maybe the day Beast obliterated Vickery. 

Unfortunately most of the players you mentioned were not at their peak ibn the last 7 years,    Jean was still good in 2013  and then starting going backwards at pace,  There were two few quality players properly coached between  2012 and 2017,    One cannot compare present players with each other the way some remember from the past,

By the way I am not sure how many matches you saw Vickerman and Matfield  playing against each other.  Vickerman started his test career in 2001 - Matfield in 2004.   Up to 2005 mainly played from the bench.   He rarely played in 2006 to 2007 because of injury.   In their prime  they rarely played each other - that is my point,   By 2010-11 - they were both not at their peak anymore.

When looking up Vickerman's info I saw that he committed suicide in 2017 when he wa sonly 37 years of age,   Terrible for his family and admirers.   

Anyway I di not think that match-ups is not really fare,   The only recent match-ups were between Nonu and De Allende and they were very competitive against each other,   I may be partisan - but De Allende proved that he was the better all-round player of the two.  So now have a fit.                   

Duplication

I have another one: Stransky vs Mehrtens WC '95. Trading blows until that epic drop goal. 

Schalk Burger and Fourie du Preez, epic clashes.

(Yes, I know this is not a match-up, just having a bit of fun)

Burger and Collins produced some decent earth shaking collisions if I recall correctly.

That wink in the end...classic..the two are best of pals. 

After Krige was run over by Collins in the 2003 WC final, Schalk came on and stoped Collins dead.

Matfield vs Dud Toit.....after Victor  took several balls off the Dud line out throw, he playfully mussed Dud’s hair. Master and student.

Yes, has-been Viktor played the fool with Dud2 in the 2015 SXV. He was colossal in the World Cup. Neither Lood von Steinhand or Steph du Toy-Pom could compete with him. Meyer made mistakes, it would be nice if the plastics would acknowledge who those mistakes were.

I recall the first game of Super rugby in 2014: Jake crafted a plan to utilise Steph cleverly. He failed at everything. It was actually Lewies that stood tall. There is a time where one has to weigh gameplan vs personnel. It's really easy. Evaluate the opportunities at the focal point of each movement. Steph failed.