Victor Matfield is still valuable, but definitely not the player he was, says Sharks director of rugby Jake White.
White was speaking after his side lost 23-19 to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
Sport24
The 36-year-old Matfield, who captained the Bulls in the absence of Flip van der Merwe, was again instrumental in the lineouts, with the home side winning 14 out of 14 on their own throw and stealing three Sharks balls.
“He is not close to the Victor I coached. He was 30 years old back then,” White, a former Springbok coach, said.
“There is no doubt that he can still add value. He brings a calmness and knows the game. And he disrupted us in the lineouts.”
But White said it would be wrong to think that Matfield can again play like a 30-year-old.
“He was man-of-the-match in the World Cup final (in 2007). What he offers the team now is very different than when he was in his prime.”
The Bulls host the Chiefs in Pretoria this Saturday, while the Sharks square up to the Waratahs in Durban.
I felt like a laugh, so I went and read through the comments on the match thread on Sharksworld.
Lol, it starts out with yeehaa kick off and ends with a lot of fuck this and that and how shit was Kanko and woe is us Lambie off injured and back to the drawing board etc etc
nortierd wrote:
Maybe he thought the Doc is a brain surgeon.
@ nortierd:
Look i know half the Springboks is signed by the Sharks, but why everyone is earmarking them as the SA flagship baffles me. Their history of dropping out in the final stages would prevent me from putting a single cent on them.
Bulls have a better history of winning streaks to save their arses.
@Superbul
The doc is the worlds best proctologist.
He even manages to get his head shoved up his own arse every week
@Superbul 33
I believe they will make the top of of conference, but have a lot of confidence that they will choke in the semi or final, Springboks or not
@ nortierd:
You using such big words , i better log off and sleep. Or You will see i am the type of guy Jake talked about.
Cheers , good night till next time.
Slaap sag.
@36
Cheers, lekker slaap
Blouste wrote:
I don’t think JAKE tried to accoplish anything in particular with the remark. These remarks was probably nothing more than conversation making and no doubt correct. Matfield can not possibly be the same man he was when 30 years old. Problem is not what said now the problem is what he said before the match. He sounded like a pompous ‘windgat’ before the game and no matter what he say now it will sound like sour grapes. His only option realy is to suck it up and lavishly compliment the Bulls and Matfield.
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