Victor Matfield aims light-hearted dig at Sir John Kirwan after All Blacks legend changes tune
Springboks legend Victor Matfield and All Blacks great Sir John Kirwan.
Victor Matfield was pleased to see that Sir John Kirwan finally appreciated scrummaging ahead of the games between the Springboks and All Blacks.
New Zealand go into the contest with one win from two in the Rugby Championship after they succumbed 38-30 to Argentina in Wellington.
Following that encounter, Kirwan complained that a lack of scrums – the first one came an hour into the match – took away one of their key weapons.
Kirwan’s comments
“We spoke about it, we need to take them on up front. There wasn’t a scrum for 60 minutes, so how you really start them crying is you take them on in the scrum and you smash them in the scrum,” he said earlier this month.
“You win a couple of scrum penalties and you kick down [field], and that just did not happen. I thought that was a huge blow to us and it threw us off our game.”
Those comments were contrary to what the All Blacks legend has previously said about the set-piece, especially in reference to South Africa.
Kirwan has often stated that the current laws suit the Boks more than New Zealand, with the All Blacks’ game traditionally based around attack and the talent in the backline.
Matfield could therefore not resist a little dig at the former wing when he appeared on The Breakdown at the weekend.
“The one thing that’s really nice for me is that JK did say how important scrums were after that first Test. I really enjoyed that, hearing it from you guys,” the ex-South Africa lock joked.
“I loved that he missed the scrums in that first Test and how important it is.”
All Blacks legends blame lack of scrums for ‘throwing us off our game’
The scrum has become a real strength for the All Blacks since Jason Ryan came in as forwards coach and it was a crucial factor in the 2-0 series win over England.
It also played a key part in the second Test against Argentina as New Zealand responded to the opening round loss with a 42-10 triumph at Eden Park.
With that platform, allied by their quality in the backline, Scott Robertson’s men could well be a significant threat in Johannesburg and Matfield is expecting a close match.
“I think it’s going to be a very tight game. I’ve said it always, there’s never a bad All Blacks side, they will always be competitive,” he said.
“We’ve seen two years ago after we had that good victory at Nelspruit and the next week they came back and they beat the Boks (35-23 at Ellis Park), so it’s going to be a great game and everyone’s looking forward to it.”
World Cup final rematch
The last time these two sides played each other was in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final where the Springboks came out on top to win the Webb Ellis Cup.
Much has changed since then, however, even for South Africa, who are looking to expand their game under new attack coach Tony Brown.
Although they have retained most of the players and coaches that claimed the global title last year, head honcho Rassie Erasmus knows that they must continue to develop, which is why Brown has been brought in.
“It’s just that mindset to look for opportunities,” Matfield added. “He’s (Brown) like Rassie, he lives, eats and sleeps rugby, he just loves it, that’s all he knows. That’s all he dreams about probably.
“I’ve heard from the camp that the guys are really enjoying him. He’s a fun guy to be around as well, so just that awareness of where the space is and how we’re going to attack it is definitely something he’s brought to the team.”
