Ex Supersport
On several occasions last season I wrote positively about Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s decision to back Victor Matfield’s comeback by selecting him into the national squad (The egg has landed), but the end of year tour and the first few weeks of Super Rugby have conspired to make me rethink his candidacy for a starting role at the World Cup. (LEts hope the oaks realsies victor must eb dropped alltogether!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Matfield was and is an amazing sportsman who deserves immense credit for what he has done to get not only back onto the rugby field but back into the Springbok team.(Nope Meyer blundered and victor desreves no credit whatsoever!!)
For someone pushing 40 and who spent two years away from the field during which time he did enough mountain biking for his body to be redesigned to the specifications of an endurance athlete, the success of his comeback ranks as freaky.(that anybody could call ita success is very FREAKY!!)
It is not his membership of a wider squad going to the World Cup that should be of concern, for on the levels of mentorship and providing extra lineout tactical expertise, Matfield can make a contribution in England later this year.(As a coach!!!!!!!!)
He does remain one of the finest lineout technicians in the game, and there is little you can fault Matfield for when it comes to work rate or energy REALLY!!). So there shouldn’t be a problem if he has to come on late in a game as a replacement, or play in an emergency.
It was noticeable during the Bok training camp in Stellenbosch last October how Matfield led from the front when it came to the fitness drills.
During the last end of year tour, however, it started to become apparent that there could be trouble brewing for the Boks if Meyer is seriously considering Matfield to be his first choice No 5.
During the games in Ireland, England, Italy and Wales it was debatable that Matfield was making the forceful physical impact outside of the lineouts that a member of the tight five should be expected to against the grinding eight man effort you encounter from northern hemisphere packs.(HE NEVER EVER HAS!!)
In a country where there isn’t a pipeline of talent coming through, maybe it would be excusable for the national coach to back Matfield as the first choice. But this is not a country where a coach who knows his oats and knows how to work with and develop talent should feel he is so short of raw material that he needs to take a step back into the past when making his selections.
And this feeling has started to gain momentum during Super Rugby, where both Ruan Botha and Pieter-Steph du Toit have started to cut formidable presences for their teams.
Du Toit is coming back from a long injury-enforced absence so it would be understandable if he made a slow start, yet he has already shown why he has been given such a high rap.
Botha is a huge digit who is impressive in the lineouts and contributes in a powerful, forceful way in the tight loose exchanges. His emergence at the Stormers has helped offset the loss at the start of 2014 of Andries Bekker, who is currently playing in Japan. Provided he stays fit, he should have shown himself to be of international class by the end of Super Rugby.
Now the supporters of Matfield and of Meyer’s decision are probably quite justifiably getting ready to fire off emails to remind me that both Botha and Du Toit were injured for significant periods of last year.(wILLEMSE, FLIP LOOD ETC)
But I didn’t have a problem with Meyer selecting Matfield when they were out. It was worth a try, and I sensed his initial plan was to bring Matfield in as a mentor and as a lineout coach, and not as someone he saw as a first choice No 5 option for the World Cup.(gAVIN IS TRYING TO WRIGGLE OUT OF HIS mATFLED SUPPORT - ITS OF COURSE VERY EMBARRASSING)
If that is still the plan, then good, for it is at the possibility that there has been a change in plan that my concern is directed.
For given that the contribution of the back five can be as important to a successful scrumming strategy as that of the front three, it may not be a coincidence that the Bok scrum battled last year when Matfield was present but not the season before that.(MAY NOT BE A COINCIDENCE - HAHAHAHAHHAHA)
The Bulls scrum is also struggling, and that does nothing to dispel the nagging feeling that two years of mountain biking isn’t good preparation for a forceful contribution in a scrum battle.
Regarding the Du Toit/Botha injuries, it is also the principle that matters, and not the individual cases. This is not Romania, it is South Africa, and there should be enough talent to nurture and bring through.
Failing that, and seeing Meyer is never reluctant to choose players from overseas, maybe we should be asking why Bekker hasn’t been re-engaged from Japan.
Bekker has reportedly been given a new lease of life now that he is playing in a league and a team where he is not constantly aggravating his gammy back by being driven into the ground each week.
He was rated second best No 5 lock in the world when he was serving his long apprenticeship behind Matfield and the reasons for bringing him back should be nearly as compelling as those for bringing back Fourie du Preez.(hE WASMILES BETTER TAHN MATFILED EVER WAS)
Well I hope Dr Moz will realise the game is up re matfield - the biggest disaster ever to hit Bok rugby.
