I do not understand line out play anymore

On Saturday while Bakkies Botha and Williams was on the field of play Matfield did not call a single line-out to come to him Whiteley and Etzebeth had to take all line-out balls thrown in by the Springboks.

It was virtually at the end of the game with both World 15 locks gone that Matfield called a single line out to come to him.   The result was that in the whole game Matfield took exactly 1 line out ball.   My uncertainty is how come a player reputedly the best line-out player of all time - in the games he plays in nowadays manage to duck out of the responsibility to take line-out balls in the way he did on Saturday.

The only other thing of note Matfield did in line-outs on Saturday was to give away a penalty by taking Williams out in the air in a line-out.

The other problem I noted is that in the case of breakdown ball protection two penalties were given again when the player trying to protect the ball was Matfield and he made no impact on the player who was trying to get a change-over.  It really looked like physical deficiency plays a role in both the line-out and latter aspect of the game.           

It’s always very difficult when it comes to a game like this as we obviously don’t have anything to prepare on, and with Flip and Bakkies there, they will know our structures and calls,” said Matfield.

“Flip was being coached by me at the Bulls not that long ago, and Bakkies knows where the ball is going to go in the lineout just by looking at me.”

Look up the word "decoy" Tokkie. This is a typical theme of yours....but the objective is not for Matfield to prove he can jump, rather for the team to win excellent lineout ball. If the best way to do that is to have the oppo marking Victor....so be it.

When the time came he soared above S tephanie and took his ball negating a possible maul try.

Ou Tokkie Hangtiete