Victor Matfield makes ‘brave’ Springboks prediction now ‘pressure’ is off after All Blacks series success
Springboks celebrating Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series victory and South Africa legend Victor Matfield.
Victor Matfield is now expecting a more expansive and experimental Springboks after they achieved their goal of winning Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
Following a poor start, which saw New Zealand claim a 33-16 triumph in Johannesburg, South Africa responded by emerging victorious in the next three Tests.
Rassie Erasmus’ men got better as the series went on and finished with a fine 43-28 success in Baltimore on Saturday.
Springboks’ attacking improvement
It was a performance that in many ways showed the other side of their game. The Boks had generally leaned into the fundamentals of scrum and maul during their previous matches with the All Blacks, but they spread the ball wider at the weekend.
The Springboks face the Wallabies in two weeks’ time before focus shifts to the Nations Championship in November and Matfield expects them to be ‘braver’ in attack.
“From last year, I think you could see the pressure in this Test series. We went back to what we know, what our DNA is; really being physical, being very direct,” he said on the Rivals podcast.
“I thought last year our attacking game, we were a bit more expansive, we took a few more chances that we haven’t done in this series.
“In the first 10 minutes in the game, they actually surprised the All Blacks by playing off the kick-off in the 22, keeping the ball in hand and gave the cross-kick.
“We’ll probably see it now with the pressure being off, you’ll see South Africa go and add a little bit of attack to their game.
“We’ll be bit more brave with ball in hand and keep possession a little bit more.”
Victor Matfield’s Rugby World Cup prediction with the Springboks as ‘favourites’
Matfield also believes that Boks boss Erasmus will look to rotate his squad between now and the end of the year.
Unusually for the head coach, he opted to make minimal changes throughout the four Tests, but now is the time to experiment, according to the former Springboks record cap holder.
The 49-year-old expects everyone who started the recent internationals to make the 2027 Rugby World Cup squad, but the Nations Championship is about finding the younger players that might join them.
A chance to experiment
“All these guys that started most of these games will be at the World Cup next year. It’s fantastic for me to see a guy like Morne [van den Berg] and taking it. Off the bench last year, this week he started and he stayed on the field for 80 minutes,” Matfield said.
“Cameron Hanekom, a youngster coming through, getting opportunities, so the guys are there. It’s so nice as a youngster to step into a team like this with a winning culture where you just go with the flow.
“You can feel when the pressure comes on how the older players handle it, what the talk is, so I think we’re in a good space.
“Most of the guys where there’s maybe a worry about whether they will make it to the next World Cup showed they’re still there and can still perform.
“I think we’re happy with the squad and I think now we’ll see a lot of changes for South Africa. In the next few games, I think we will see a lot of younger players getting an opportunity and they must show what they can do.”
