Victor Matfield’s warning over Rugby Championship meddling after they ‘compete’ with the Six Nations ‘for the first time’
There will be more Springboks v All Blacks matches next year but Victor Matfield is concerned.
Victor Matfield is worried that the return of traditional tours, such as the All Blacks’ three-Test series in South Africa next year, will come at the expense of the global game.
New Zealand will head to the Republic in 2026 for seven matches, which includes taking on the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions.
The Rugby Championship will therefore not take place next year, despite the remarkable success of the competition in 2025.
With a shortened format scheduled for 2027 due to the Rugby World Cup, 2028 is the earliest time it will resume in its current guise.
However, even that is in doubt with reports suggesting that there will be tours involving all SANZAAR sides the season following the global tournament.
Huge shake-up
As a result, it looks like the next proper Rugby Championship will come in four years’ time – 2029 – in what will prove to be a huge shake-up in the southern hemisphere, and potentially the sport as a whole.
“For me, it’s a pity,” was Matfield’s summation of the situation, before he looked at the positives of the Springboks v All Blacks series.
“Firstly, I’m very happy, next year is going to be unbelievable. New Zealand on a tour here for three Test matches, and they might even play midweek games against some of our provincial teams,” he told SuperSport’s Final Whistle show.
The Boks great ultimately considered its potential impact on the wider game, though, particularly with the Rugby Championship creating huge excitement this year.
It has often played second fiddle to the Six Nations, which has the history and tradition, but Matfield believes that it is now rivalling the northern hemisphere competition.
“I’m really looking forward to that but we’ve just started getting into this Rugby Championship. We just said it, it’s the best Rugby Championship we’ve even seen. I think for the first time we can compete with the Six Nations,” he said.
“We can say we’ve got four teams that can win it, every game is sold-out, the tension it’s pulling is so big at the moment and now all of a sudden it’s going to take a break for two or three years.
“Will it be able to come back? It’s difficult. If you don’t have something there in people’s faces every week, every month, ever year then people start talking about other things.
“It’s a pity. I’m looking forward to the New Zealand series but for the Rugby Championship to go away for three years and then want to bring it back, I’m a bit worried.”
Super Rugby warning
Matfield insists that the organisers must be wary about making huge changes after what happened to Super Rugby when they meddled with it.
“You can even look back at Super Rugby. It was the best rugby competition in the world, I think it was better than the World Cup. When it was strength versus strength, that competition worked,” he said.
“Everyone got up in the morning, had their coffee, watched games in New Zealand. When the Crusaders came here, the Blues, the stadiums were full.
“Then all of a sudden we said: ‘No, we have to play more against each other’. Then it was the South African sides twice and you don’t play everyone. Why? It was the best.
“All of a sudden, that competition drifted away and it faded away, and it ended up South Africa leaving that competition.
“This competition at the moment is working, it’s fantastic. We’re seeing that we don’t know who’s going to win on the weekend, everyone wants to watch it. Why are we changing it? I really don’t understand.”
Another concern is the impact it will have on the developing nations in the sport. For example, Argentina, who consistently compete well despite their financial limitations, often seem to be shafted by the game’s key decision-makers.
While New Zealand and South Africa are two of rugby’s behemoths and create both excitement on the field and money off it, Matfield states that it is important not to forget about the rest of the world.
“There is only one tour that will be successful and that is New Zealand [going to South Africa]. So it’s the British and Irish Lions and the All Blacks, or the Springboks touring a country. Because the pull is so big around those brands, it will work,” he said.
“But remember we want world rugby to get stronger, we want teams like Georgia to start being competitive, we want Australia to be strong, we want Argentina.
“We can’t let them fall away, get to a World Cup and there are only four teams that can win the World Cup.”
