Matfield up for second row rumble
29 Oct 2009
Victor Matfield is preparing for a stern test of his ability when he faces Cheetahs locks Nico Breedt and David de Villiers in the Currie Cup final on Saturday.
Matfield has been a dominant lineout force at Super Rugby and Test level in 2009, and his performances, coupled with those of his long time second row partner, Bakkies Botha, have been central to the Bulls and Springboks’ success.
However, in Breedt and De Villiers, Matfield is bracing for a sustained threat to that dominance. The duo coped well against the Matfield and co in their last meeting at Loftus in September (the Bulls won 30-27), although it has to be noted that Botha was absent through injury.
A repeat performance will put Naka Drotske’s charges in a good position to cause an upset, and Matfield was acutely aware that they would be fiercely determined not to be outdone.
‘Both of them are very good players,’ Matfield told keo.co.za.
‘Nico is a big mate of my. We played together at Toulon, so I’ve seen first hand how good he really is. I think he’s been their star this season. His ball carries have been so strong, and his work rate is very high.
‘David has been impressive for them at the lineouts, and he’ll be difficult to get the better of. But we’re doing everything to prepare for them and hopefully we can put them under pressure.’
The Bulls have played in seven Currie Cup finals and two Super Rugby finals since 2002. In addition, six of their starting 15 are World Cup winners. However, despite the team’s familiarity with the big stage, Matfield insists that complacency is not a factor.
‘It’s easy to keep the guys focussed despite the amount of success they’ve enjoyed in the last couple of years,’ he said.
‘We’re just looking to build on that success. All the guys are desperate to win, and for someone like Bryan [Habana] it means a lot. He came here to win a Currie Cup and he hasn’t yet, of this is an awesome opportunity for him and for us to finish on a high.’
Asked whether the week break had further galvanised the squad, many of who had played without much rest in 2009, Matfield said, ‘It has its benefits and disadvantages.
‘In some ways it would have been nice to have played immediately after the semi-final because we would have taken the momentum from the win against Province into the final.
‘Then again, a lot of the guys have played a lot of rugby this year, and the week off certainly helped refresh the body and mind.
‘So I can’t say precisely which would have been better, we’ll only know after the final whistle on Saturday.’
Coach Frans Ludeke was more certain about the benefits, although he stressed that physical freshness was just one element needed to succeed.
‘You saw it [the benefits] on Monday. The guys were absolutely flying in practice. But we’re not relying on the break or past success for confidence. There must be a desire to be successful on the day,’ he said.
‘We also need character because finals are won through character. It’s important that we stay calm because in the game momentum sways, and when it sways in your favour you need to be ready to take advantage.
‘We back ourselves and our systems and we’re ready to give everything on Saturday.’
By Ryan Vrede
178 Comments
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29 Oct 2009, 07:13 am
all these articles are so boring…can’t wait for saturday…
29 Oct 2009, 07:23 am
Boring is putting it mildly.
I just noticed that The Sharks are still sitting top of the log.
I hope the final won’t be a boring as the two teams playing.
29 Oct 2009, 07:29 am
Well at least the undisputed greatest team in the history of sa rugby are hosting the final. Who they play against is really irrelevent.
29 Oct 2009, 07:30 am
This may be the last chance Habana will ever have of lifting the Currie Cup;)
29 Oct 2009, 07:33 am
Would have been a fairer reflection if they were playing the champions…
This is going to be so one sided. Poor Freestaters are really excited but it’s all going to end in tears and foot stamping..ne Helgard.
29 Oct 2009, 08:17 am
well you know we should introduce new trophies in super rugby and currie cup, a less prise but still one to have eg have a top of the log trophy gives some motivation as you’d still be playing for the trophy
29 Oct 2009, 08:22 am
Off the subject…Wikus Van Heerden has signde for Lions…nut will miss the super 14 ….avaiable from June 2010.
29 Oct 2009, 08:23 am
#6 Dunx: no, winner takes all is fine with me!
29 Oct 2009, 08:26 am
#7 grant10: nut is but
Wickus cool oke…not a nut!!
29 Oct 2009, 08:37 am
#9 grant10: yes, you’re right, jaco is the nut…and he is signed to the bulle…nutjob team that one…
29 Oct 2009, 08:54 am
#7 grant10: not the Bulls?
29 Oct 2009, 09:03 am
I actually hope the cheetahs take it and just to hear the silence from these blue bulls supporters.
29 Oct 2009, 09:04 am
#10 Transformation: LOL….JVDW a favorite of mine….bloody good 10 or 15….
#11 SpringbokSarah: Lions….D Muirs first sighning…magic player…pity he will miss the super 14 though.
Lions need at least a lock and hooker.
Hope they get saffas from overseas…dont like the ‘internal’ poaching.
29 Oct 2009, 09:06 am
#13 grant10: I would have thought he would have gone back to Pretoria
29 Oct 2009, 09:06 am
#10 Transformation: #12 Breakdown Boy: *YAWN* some more ppl with a serious bout of SOUR GRAPES due to zero trophies….. ag shame!
29 Oct 2009, 09:10 am
#14 SpringbokSarah: Not sure Bulls need him….Lions do…i reckon he will captain them.
29 Oct 2009, 09:15 am
#12 Breakdown Boy: As a matter of interest who’s your team?
29 Oct 2009, 09:26 am
why so quiet people?
29 Oct 2009, 09:27 am
i guess winning at all costs has its price eh?
Madiba knew that.
anyone a fan of “The gang of instrumentals”?
29 Oct 2009, 09:43 am
#8 Transformation:
you are like the journalists on this site, always mocking jaco. Get a life
No stopping Wacko Jaco
Jaco van der Westhuyzen continues to embarrass himself.
The Bulls fullback sparked a minor controversy when he wore a white T-shirt, with the handwritten message “***** is King”, at the end of the Super 14 final in Durban. With the rest of his team-mates in their blue jerseys, Van der Westhuyzen — and his message — stuck out like a beacon.
The SA Rugby Union has since received numerous calls from members of the public who took offence at the player’s religious “ambush marketing”, which is not surprising considering how many non-Christians there are in this country.
Van der Westhuyzen’s antics gave the staff at SA Rugby magazine a problem when compiling our next issue. We wanted to pay tribute to the Bulls, but every photo of the team celebrating was visually wrecked by Van der Westhuyzen. At first we decided to remove the “***** is King” text using photoshop and leave him wearing a plain white T-shirt. However, we eventually tracked down a photo in which Van der Westhuyzen didn’t appear at all and went with that instead.
Not content with what he “achieved” in Durban, Van der Westhuyzen has continued to seek the limelight he so clearly loves. He’s in this week’s You and Huisgenoot magazines, again wearing the T-shirt (which hopefully he washed) and trying to justify his actions. He was also in Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, insisting that he would have worn the T-shirt even if the Bulls had lost the game (would he have ambushed the Sharks team photo?).
Rugby writer Gavin Rich made a couple of excellent points in the latest Sunday Argus when he asked how happy sponsors Vodacom would have been with Van der Westhuyzen’s T-shirt, and not their brand, being the centre of attention. Rich also asked, tounge in cheek, what Sharks coach **** Muir had done to deserve the wrath of God and lose the final in such painful circumstances.
Van der Westhuyzen has predictably received support from Christians who applaud him for not being ashamed of his faith. But how would they have reacted if a player had worn a “***** is Dead” or “There is no God” T-shirt? Would they have defended that player’s freedom of speech as they have defended Van der Westhuyzen’s?
While some may not approve, South Africa is a secular state and Van der Westhuyzen’s actions were grossly inappropriate.
His claim that he wanted to give glory to God for the Bulls’ Super 14 win is laughable. God (if he does exist) would surely be focused on the war in Iraq and other life and death issues, not a rugby match. Ironically, by jumping onto the crossbar of the posts at Kings Park and behaving like a total nutter, Van der Westhuyzen simply drew attention to himself and not his God.
But perhaps that was his intention all along.
By Simon Borchardt
* Comments have now been switched off to help speed up the website
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 26th, 2007
36. Tacitus :
May 27th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Wow. An amazingly disrespectful and insulting-from a christian perspective- tirade by simon using the small platform that his involvement with sa rugby mag provides him with. If i had any respect left for him i might actually stoop to engaging him in his anti-religion crusade. He criticizes jaco, then goes straight on to state what, according to HIS philosophical views would REALLY be the focus of God’s attention. No one cares about your religious views, or lack thereof, simon. If your aim with this article was just to insult christians, then well done. You succeeded brilliantly…
29 Oct 2009, 09:47 am
#19 rangerman: hey ranger GOI…they have traces of talent, but a bit too plastic for my liking…why do u ask?
29 Oct 2009, 09:49 am
#20 Pearl Rose: whatever, get off the high horse i was just jokingly mocking the man, nothing about religion…jeepuz
29 Oct 2009, 09:53 am
#21 Transformation: ag, i dig their music.
i must say, the lyrics are sometimes a little shallow but if they stay together, i believe they will grow.
i am into my south african phase again. i am starting a book by zakes mda, listening to local music and trying to get the summer going with local live acts and talent.
buzzing.
29 Oct 2009, 10:00 am
#23 rangerman: spot on with their lyrics, but good sounds nonetheless…
Bra Zakes is excellent, i’ve read Heart of Redness, Ways of Dying & Madonna of Excelsior…there’s another one i need to get but my reading habits are messed up now, too much time on the internet.
29 Oct 2009, 10:00 am
out for now.
tjorts julle.
29 Oct 2009, 10:03 am
#24 Transformation:
“money…mo’ money….”
thought i was listening to an american gangster rapper for a bit!
the Zakes book i am starting is called Cion. its set in america so i will let you know how it goes.
i too am less of a reader than ever before.
29 Oct 2009, 10:04 am
seriously going now.
cheers mate.
p.s. inglourious ******** is a great movie imo. but very violent.
29 Oct 2009, 10:11 am
Has anybody seen the trailer for Invictus? Looks interesting. Francois Pienaar never looked so cool…
29 Oct 2009, 10:17 am
#28 pietskeade:francois pienaar?
#27 rangerman: i must watch this’movie quickly otherwise i will know everything about it before i see it, a lot of my friends raving on about it…
29 Oct 2009, 10:19 am
#29 Transformation: FP played by Matt Damon in the movie. Matt Damon looks a lot cooler that FP is my point..
29 Oct 2009, 10:20 am
pietskiet, volgens die preview het Mandella voor die tyd vir Francois gese hulle MOET die cup wen .. en Francois het ALLES in sy lewe gedoen om dit moontlik te maak. So sorry Kitch & die res ..dit was Mandella en Francois wat die beker vir ons gewen het.
29 Oct 2009, 10:35 am
#31 Julius: Ja.., dis Hollywood vir jou. Die regte storie is fantasties maar ek dink nie dit het die internasionale mark nie. So Clint gooi mandela in waar hy kan want hy moet kaartjies verkoop op die einde van die dag…
Jy’s reg. As ek die trailer reg verstaan het mandela die wereldbeker oorwinning ge-mastermind…
Go figure.
29 Oct 2009, 11:10 am
watched the trailer. looks like a cool movie but don’t be expecting anything of a history lesson here…
29 Oct 2009, 11:13 am
#32 pietskeade: Weet nie. Sport flieks het gewoonlik sukses as daar ‘n paar groot name in is. Maak nie saak watter tipe sport.
Hel, as sokker soveel flieks uitgebring het… skop… skop… skop… en nie te praat van atletiek en ysskaats, mens weet nooit. Solank dit nie nog ‘n Leon-fliek is nie.
29 Oct 2009, 11:13 am
Ja nee, with all this waiting, by the time the game starts Im going to be dronk as hel.
29 Oct 2009, 11:20 am
#35 BlueBlood: You’re going to need it
29 Oct 2009, 11:27 am
Good morning jobseekers
29 Oct 2009, 11:36 am
#17 Tisme: In terms of the currie cup I will support WP, but I don’t really watch the CC as it would take up to much of my time. I prefer contests with a more international flavour like the S14 and international tests. In the S14 I support the Stormers but I will back any South African team that makes the semis and final. (Stormers, Lions, Sharks, Cheetahs and then lastly the Bulls)
When the bulls won the S14 I was very happy just because they were the only SA team, when they beat the sharks to win the S14 in 07 I was sad because I was supporting the Sharks in that game.
I love the rugby that the bulls play and I can’t argue that they are the best SA team, but the supports can be a bit much.
29 Oct 2009, 11:39 am
#28 pietskeade: The trailer looked good, a friend of mine plays one of Madiba’s bodygaurds in the movie (same guy who does the broudband ad on tv and cinema (DO broadband))
29 Oct 2009, 11:52 am
#36 adj nm: Aye, with the Super14 final, I was vrot verby. Some genuis bought a bottle of jaegermeister and that was finished before the game, and I was also finished before the end of the game.
Eish, good times.
29 Oct 2009, 12:03 pm
#39 Breakdown Boy: One of the other bodyguards is a welsh guy.
Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman went to watch a Stormers v Reds match last year to get a “feel” for rugby. Dread the rugby sequences in the movie!
29 Oct 2009, 12:07 pm
#40 BlueBlood: I find I can’t take too much before the match. Too much adrenalin. During the match I don’t have time to drink cause I can’t take my eyes of the match. So get pissed after instead…
The severity of my hangover the next morning is usually the first indication to me as to who won/lost again…
29 Oct 2009, 13:22 pm
#39 Breakdown Boy: The reason I ask is that the Bulls are the least liked team by all other fans, everybody states the same reason:
“its because of the fans being so arrogant”
Now to be quite honest that is utter BS! Any fan that boasts with his team’s success is then arrogant…. the difference is that they dont get the oppertunity to boast as much as the Bulls in the last few years
Maybe you should go back and read the banter between the cheetahs and sharks after they lost…. if that was a said by a bull fan he would be preceived to be arrogant, but because the underdog won its all ok
Anyway, when the bulls play in a CC final the opposing team’s fan base grows ten fold!
Now, you want the Cheetahs to win to shut the BB fans up…. rather funny that your team not being in the final didnt shut you up did it now?… so why if the Bulls loose will it shut their fans up?
Anyway, I am sick and tired of everone calling the Bulls fans arrogant…. its like saying all white people are racist!
29 Oct 2009, 13:44 pm
Tactitus youre full of sh*t, since when are they the greatest team in Currie cup rugby, look at the win/loss column you moron
29 Oct 2009, 13:47 pm
#44 fuzzy:
Moer hom.
29 Oct 2009, 14:07 pm
#44 fuzzy: Sorry to burst you bubble, but since N Tvl (now Bulls) were founded they have won the CC the most of all other unions, I am sure that you will agree that history proves that they are the most successful CC team?
WP have won the CC the most, but their wins counted even when the Bulls were not in existence!
29 Oct 2009, 14:08 pm
#44 fuzzy: Now my dear fuzzy friend, would you care to read the win/loss column
No need to apologise, we all make mistakes
29 Oct 2009, 14:09 pm
#10 Transformation:
who is your team? and why is the bulls a nutjob team, because they are able to win super 14′s and curry cups?
Resentment is an ugly thing buddy!
29 Oct 2009, 14:13 pm
#43 Tisme: I agree with you on a lot of your post, we do tend to tar all bull supporters with the same brush. However, when the Sharks lost to the Cheetahs most of us did it in good grace, and accepted the banter from the Cheetahs painful as it was. However, a great many Bull Bloggers and not fans are Bullish in their behaviour towards the oposition before and after a win or a loss, calling us Guppies, chokers etc. and other teams get pretty names too! I point you to bloggers like BlueBlood, and Tacitus where all other teams are shite but do not criticise a Bulls player. But I attend every home game and the ones I have enjoyed the most were those against the Bulls the banter is ALWAYS great and they are gracious when defeated if not so much when they win
29 Oct 2009, 14:21 pm
#49 Sharksgirl: The point is that every fan base has them, like every village has an idiot, some have more (those living in Transformation’s area)!
;-()
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