Kevin McCallum
August 07 2009 at 07:10AM

They are the sorcerer and the enforcer of Springbok rugby, the yin and yang of a tight five that is the envy of world rugby, and on Saturday at Newlands in the Tri-Nations match against Australia, Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha will rattle up the 50th celebration of their partnership in the green and gold.

Like all truly great combinations, they bring very different skills to the equation. Each imposes himself on the game: Botha with his strength and aggression at the breakdown and in the mauls, Matfield with his guile and craft in the lineouts.

Botha said on Thursday: “Victor said this morning about what we each bring to the game.

“There’s no need for Victor to clean because I clean enough for two people, which allows him to run around in the backline.

“It’s a true combination. It’s perfect because the things I do well, Victor doesn’t like to do that much, and the things Victor does well, I don’t like to do that much.

“It’s been a privilege to play with Victor because of the calmness he brings to the field, especially around lineout time.”

Botha was accused of not being calm enough in the second Test against the British and Irish Lions at Loftus Versfeld, when he hit a ruck, dislocated Adam Jones’s shoulder and was banned for two weeks. The Springboks staged an armband protest which got them into trouble with the International Rugby Board.

While many thought the protest a tad over the top, no one disagreed with the notion Botha had been targeted because of who he was and not for what he had done.

Would he change?

“Definitely not,” said Botha. “I’m just playing the game I’ve played in my entire nine years of top-level rugby and I think sometimes the guys are zooming in on the way I play, perhaps, on the way I target the rucks.

“That’s the way I play, I’m not going to change.

“It’s funny,” smiled Botha. “Sometimes when we train with the Bulls, afterwards someone will greet me and the guys will ask me: ‘Who’s that?’ I’ll say: ‘That’s the citing commissioner of the Sharks.’ I know the commissioners very well – by name, actually.”

“Although he’s very psyched on the field, until that whistle goes, he’s very relaxed,” said Matfield. “You know he’s going to do a job for you. He takes the whole pack forward.

“He should get more recognition for what he does for the Springboks.”

Legendary Lion Willie John McBride had suggested 2009 tour captain Paul O’Connell would “boss” the two around during the Lions series, which drew a smile from Botha and Matfield. Now, with the Lions victory under their belt and having won everything it is possible to win, the two bosses of world locks are up for the 2011 World Cup.

“Yes, I think it will be great if I can still be there with Bakkies,” said Matfield.

“But, a bit more about this journey we have been on. Bakkies and myself got married on the same weekend, our first kids were born about a month apart from each other, the last ones about two months from each other.

“Everything happens together so we hope we can retire together.”