Victor Matfield: Springboks veteran is the ‘world’s best’, not All Blacks star and he will prove it during the Greatest Rivalry Series
All Blacks centre Jordie Barrett is tackled by Springboks midfielder Damian de Allende and an inset of Victor Matfield.
Springboks veteran Damian de Allende is the best centre in the world, not All Blacks’ star Jordie Barrett.
That is the view of legendary lock Victor Matfield, who believes that the soon-to-be Test centurion will prove that statement to be factual when the two superstar midfielders collide during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series.
De Allende has been rested for the Springboks’ trip to Argentina to tackle Los Pumas in Buenos Aires, which means that he will enter the highly anticipated showdown between the two giants of the international game with 99 Test caps under his belt.
While the 34-year-old has been a crucial cog in the Springboks backline since Rassie Erasmus took over the head coaching reins in 2018, he was also entrusted with the number 12 jumper under his predecessors – Heyneke Meyer and Allister Coetzee.
Not only is De Allende primed to hit triple digits for the Boks during the series, but he is set to break Jean de Villiers’ record for the most starts in the centres for South Africa in Test matches – he needs just two more starts to equal the former captain’s tally of 92.
Victor Matfield: Damian de Allende is the best centre in the world
Whilst the veteran centre has been a mainstay in South Africa’s starting lineups for over a decade now and has been a fulcrum of the team that has won back-to-back World Cups and a British and Irish Lions Series, he is seldom mentioned as one of the best in the world – and unfairly so according to Matfield.
The former Bok lock has backed De Allende to stamp his mark against the All Blacks and prove that he is the best player in his position in the game while predicting that number eight Jasper Wiese will have a ‘huge tour’.
“We’ve got two key players, and it’s probably not the two you think I’m going to mention. I think Jasper Wiese is going to be huge in this tour,” Matfield remarked on the Rugby Rivals podcast.
“The other one is Damian de Allende, just the work rate that he puts in. Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] will be back, and he will be keeping him calm in that 10 jersey, helping him with making the right calls and just almost organising the whole attack. So for me, he is the player who is going to come through under pressure.
“I know a lot of people say Jordie Barrett is the best 12 in the world. We’ll see after this tour. I think Damian de Allende is the best 12 in the world, and he’s been the best 12 in the world for a pretty long time.”
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Roigard and Barrett backed to shine for the All Blacks
Legendary All Blacks winger Sir John Kirwan joined Matfield on the podcast and immediately disagreed with the ex-Bok – so much so that he is willing to put a bet on it.
The former Blues and Italy head coach predicts that Barrett will prove that he is the better inside centre and has backed scrum-half Cam Roigard and experienced playmaker Beauden Barrett to perform under pressure for Dave Rennie’s charges during the series.
Barrett is yet to earn a cap for New Zealand under the new All Blacks boss, who confirmed that the 35-year-old will feature in the opening game of the tour against the Stormers on Friday evening.
“I’m going to put a bet on that. I think that Jordie Barrett will come out of this series as the best. So there is a little side bet,” Kirwan said in reply to Matfield’s prediction.
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“I think it will be Cam Roigard. Over the last sort of 24 months he has matured into one of these X-factor halfbacks, and to beat South Africa you need to have some X-factor players, and I think he’s going to be that – under pressure, he’ll step up.”
Turning his focus to Barrett, he continued: “Then I’m really interested to see how Beauden goes this week against the Stormers. He’s already been named by Dave Rennie, because I think that he’s got X Factor. He’s got that break-a-game moment – even off the bench.
“There was a game a few years ago, was it South Africa at Eden Park, where he came on, so I’m pretty sure that he’ll go from playing against the Stormers to at least the bench. I think he and Roigard will be the point of difference.”
