Matfield to prolong AB pain
Victor Matfield says he wants a fourth All Blacks scalp before enjoying a well-earned rest.
The Springboks completed a clean sweep over the All Blacks in 2009, beating them comfortably in the two matches at home before going on to win the Tri-Nations decider in Hamilton. Saturday represents a fourth opportunity for many of the Boks as they line up for the Barbarians in the exhibition game against New Zealand.
‘It is always nice to get another one over the All Blacks because you don’t get that very often,’ said Matfield, who is one of six South Africans likely to front the Blacks. Beast Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Danie Rossouw, Schalk Burger and Fourie du Preez are all tipped to start.
Matfield worried the All Blacks at lineout time during the Tri-Nations, but admitted he hadn’t done much preparation for Saturday’s game at Twickenham.
‘It’s not like other games where you go and analyse and put in a lot of hard work,’ he told stuff.co.nz. ‘We will probably just go with something basic. We’ll see how it goes.
‘We are having fun, we are enjoying each other’s company, but we are also playing the All Blacks, so we need to be on our best or we will get a big thrashing.’
Despite his laid back attitude, Matfield insists there is a genuine desire to down the All Blacks, who’ve gone unbeaten on their end-of-year tour.
‘A lot of the guys would love to be on summer holiday back in South Africa, but to get the chance to play with guys like Matt Giteau and the other boys is awesome.
‘It’s going well. With guys like Schalk, Andy Powell, and Drew Mitchell in your side you are always going to have a good time.
‘The guys are enjoying themselves, but when we get close to the game just like a hard test match we face it.’
Habana said the All Blacks aren’t the No 1 ranked team for nothing, but also believes a win is on the cards.
‘We’re going to put up as big a contest as we can. I’m not going to say we’re going out there to show we can beat the All Blacks, but we’ve got an amazing pool of talented players so the potential is there to pull out a win.
‘It’s a bit tough after having seen what they did to France last weekend. South Africa got team of the year but New Zealand are probably playing the best rugby out of all the teams at the moment.’
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:47 am
Ja, I love the barbarians hey
I can watch the game without being on the edge of my seat.
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:58 am
Well… Big Vic took a rest on Saturday afternoon against Ireland… saving himself for one last big effort against the ABs…
It just wouldn’t do to be tired facing the ABs while playing for the Barbarians…
But taking it easy against Ireland while representing the Springboks is acceptable… very strategic…
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 am
thank you habana for being honest, i hope coach john smit and the “journalists” on this site are listening! Yeah that’s right “new zealand are playing the best rugby of all the teams at the moment”
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:27 am
At least the Babaas will have a chance with a decent flyhalve in Giteau. The previous game played by the Barbarians was almost a world 15 but they had Frans Steyn at 10 and couldn’t make one decent play.
Maybe it was just a lack of motivation and not all Frans.
Can’t see the ABs loosing, though.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 am
I hope that the match is played in the finest traditions of Baabaas rugby in an entertaining and open manner and that the best side wins … and the Baabaas lose haha
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:40 am
This game is an ideal oppertunity for WP. BJ’s impact on our scrum against Ireland was massive (or was that Smit @2?) and if WP can show he is up for the international game, PdV might prefer him (local) over BJ.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:48 am
@Transformation:
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to aknowledge that the AB are playing the better rugby at the stage, hell even a retiring province player in Habana can see that
Having said that I will back a full strength properly prepared Springbok team in a crucial match to beat the AB any day of the week.
See McCaw are being rested again in the start of next years S14. Hope your conditioning and resting program turns out better for you than it did in 2007
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:51 am
Also the AB HAD to do well in the EOY tour in order to make their season look like anything but a disgrace !!!
We didn’t have that pressure on us, having won all the possible silwerware in 2009…
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:57 am
Come on Vic cut the **** it’s not another AB scalp you want. You just want more $$$.
I can’t see the Babaas beating the all blacks.
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 am
@Blouste: i can see you’re gleefully blogging under the misguided premise that i support the all blacks, HA HA HA HA!
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:49 am
@Transformation: Don’t waste your time. Blouste here believes that SA cricket and rugby can only be played, coached and enjoyed by white people. You as a spectator and supporter of the Boks, he considers to be a quota supporter.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 am
The All Blacks will rout this team!
This is only a money game for the Boks.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
If Stephen donald plays we have a good chance of losing that guy is not an all black hope we dont play to many of our reserves or the barbarians may embarrass us after a decent end of year
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
What is the point of this match ? Are they raising money for charity or is it the 10k match fee …
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 am
Oppas Victor. Die AB’s het intussen geleer om Afrikaans te verstaan.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I do not see BaaBaas going even close to the ABs now.
In June/July, perhaps. Now ABs are clearly on their way up, slowly but surely.
ABs by a big plenty.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@Blouste: “anything but a disgrace”?!?
Alright then, it’s a disgrace to lose 3 times to South Africa, right? How lowly you rate your own team.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@Transformation:
Must admit, did assume..
Never the less, my point still stands with regards to the Springbok, AB teams.
@rossoneri:
Your idioticness astounds me…
I have never stated anything that supports your statement.
You on the other hand seem to have some racistic undertones in your posts…
Get a life and move on from the past **** nut !!!
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:53 pm
@Transformation:
Must admit, did assume..
Never the less, my point still stands with regards to the Springbok, AB teams.
@rossoneri:
Your idioticness astounds me…
I have never stated anything that supports your statement.
You on the other hand seem to have some racistic undertones in your posts…
Get a life and move on from the past f@ck nut !!!
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
@Nils:
Not the case at all, but help me if I’m wrong…
If we lose 3-0 to the All Blacks we see that as a disgrace, not because of your team being bad or anything, on the contorary….just because of our highly competitive nature.
I thought it to be the same in your country…
We always strive to be the best, even when aknowledging the other team were the better one its always a bitter pill to swallow…
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
@nama1: Nama off the topic of this thread ,but I saw your reply onthe KP thread and just wanted to say…
I agree whole heartedly with the father of that boy and your sentiments.
This is exactly the point I was trying to make.
Things like this should never happen in sports and merit selections should always be the standard.
Doesn’t matter to wich side the knive cuts.
Unfortunatly someone like rossineri always have to play the racism card.
Sad realy after so may years …
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Barbarians’ Team:
Drew Mitchell (Australia); Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand), Jaque Fourie (South Africa), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Bryan Habana (South Africa); Matt Giteau (Australia), Fourie du Preez (South Africa); Salvatore Perugini (Italy), Bismarck du Plessis (South Africa), W P Nel (Free State Cheetahs), Carlo del Fava (Italy), Victor Matfield, captain (South Africa), Rocky Elsom (Australia), Schalk Burger (South Africa), George Smith (Australia)
Replacements:
Stephen Moore (Australia), Tendai Mtawarira (South Africa), Quintin Geldenhuys (Italy), Andy Powell (Wales), Will Genia (Australia), Morne Steyn (South Africa), Leigh Halfpenny (Wales).
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
@Blouste: bearing in mind you never played a full strength AB team , god they had Donald at flyhalf and centre. At present after seeing the limited gameplan of the boks and the Abs now with confidence in there backline i think they would rip the boks apart like previuos years before, just my point of view i am sure other wouldnt agree
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
@Blouste: I see your reasoning.
I’d keep in mind that while result 0-3 looks indeed shocking as such, it does not seem so disasterous (ok, it’s bad, I agree, it cannot be good) if you keep in mind that this ABs team (while playing at times shockingly poor – see Durban) was beaten by a very good SA side and not by that much even then. You do not see any 3-53 or even 0-19 stuff.
And this, no doubt, bitter pill was slightly sweetened by 4 consecutive wins over Aussies.
So I would not call summer season disasterous. Just simply mor or less bad. Purely because at that time South Africa were much better than anybody else in the south.
December 2nd, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Personally I think we got seriously lucky in the tests against the Lions. It was shocking how we lost the leads we built up in the first half and at times we were simply just defending. The last test was stupid. How in gods name do you ever play a second string team against the Lions?? A clean sweep would have been nice Snor.
We played well in the Tri Nations but got lucky with Morne´s one man show as well as the final match where Frans Steyn did some ridiculous stuff from the 60m mark. We did the same we did against the Lions against Australia for our only loss of the Tri Nations.
These in my opinion were clear warning signs. We dont know how to commit at the breakdown, we are slow to support, we dont recycle fast enough, we dont look like we know what to do with the ball in the backline at times and we kick all our possession away endlessly. We are in trouble at the moment and the trouble is a result of not learning tricks of the trade that make NZ so successful. Are NZ better players than the Boks – no, are the bigger, fitter, faster? – no, Do they have stronger lineouts and scrums than the Boks? – no, do they kick better than the Boks – no… so its clear the difference lies in 2 things:
team spirit and a rabid desire to win
and 2 … playing together as a team, dominating rucks, tirelessly chasing the ball, charging straight over the top of opposition ball in formations of 3 or 4 and willing to run the ball straight with fast offloading.
Thats the difference and the part we seem incabable of adapting.
December 2nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
@bananas:
The NZRFU gets a badly needed million pounds for this game. It is having a serious cash flow problem, exacerbated by preparations for the RWC.
As the MIB is the only team in the world that can fill stadia, its a win win. Charity gets a slice too.
December 2nd, 2009 at 5:25 pm
And btw … dream on Matfield. You couldnt even beat Ireland or France and now you reckon you can take the AB´s?? Ja boet wake up and smell the coffee.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 am
@west:
Injuries are part of the game mate. Besides, wasn’t Carter and McCaw there in Hamilton?
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:26 am
@AiDoc:
Please, we get 50 000 for a Currie Cup semi final. How many people were in attendance for the NPC semi’s?
I hate to say it but the crowds in NZL are shocking.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:39 am
@CenturionShark (aka LondonShark): They were. And, as you remember, the game was very close in the end.
I’m afraid, Big Vic is daydreaming here. 3N are long gone and since then “brilliant” Boks have gone down, while “average” (and in Durban plain pisspoor shocking!) ABs have gone up.
And since reportedly tired Matfield-led Boks were humbled at the very start by Frogs who then were massacred by presumably fresh as daisies ABs in the very last Test of much longer tour, it can be only one outcome:
this time Vic will taste a huge defeat, leading “All Stars”.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:41 am
@CenturionShark (aka LondonShark): 50 000 – that’s a size of normal NZ city.