Victor Matfield
Victor Matfield will on Saturday become the most-capped Test player in the history of South African rugby when he leads the Springboks against Wales in his 112th Test match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
Matfield made his Test debut on 30 June 2001 against Italy in Port Elizabeth. He retired after the Rugby World Cup in 2011 on 110 caps, but made a highly successful return to the game earlier this year.
“This is a fantastic accolade for Victor,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday.
“He has been a terrific servant of the game in South Africa and has led his country with distinction since returning to the Green and Gold.”
“When he returned to the game earlier this season, he set his goals on becoming a Springbok yet again and he’s worked extremely hard to get there. I don’t think anyone can doubt that he deserves his place in the team and he’s also been a great interim captain, with Jean de Villiers out injured.”
Matfield, who is also the most-capped Vodacom Super Rugby player in South Africa, will captain a Springbok starting line-up which shows two changes from the team which beat Wales by 38-16 in Durban last week.
Both changes are in the pack, where Tendai Mtawarira returns at loosehead prop, with Gurthrö Steenkamp reverting to the bench, while Flip van der Merwe will partner Matfield in the second row in the place of Bakkies Botha.
The only other change to the team is amongst the backline reserves, where Wynand Olivier replaces the injured Johan Goosen to provide necessary midfield cover. Ruan Pienaar will provide backup for scrumhalf and flyhalf, while Lwazi Mvovo can cover fullback and wing.
Commenting on the team selection, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said it was an easy decision to stick with the core of the team which beat the Welsh last weekend in Durban.
“I’ve always preferred to stick with a winning combination and the changes to the team were both part of our planning,” said Meyer.
“The backline really performed well last weekend and we would like to give them another opportunity to play together, as there were a number of new combinations.”
“The same applies upfront. Bakkies is fit for selection, but we decided to manage his workload this week and I know Flip, who has been outstanding in the last two seasons, will slot back in easily. The same goes for ‘Beast’, who upped the tempo with his work rate last weekend.”
Meyer said he is expecting another tough challenge from Wales this weekend.
“They’ve had another week together and will be keen to lift their game on Saturday, but at the same time we were not happy with certain aspects of our game and we’ve worked hard to rectify that,” said Meyer.
“This is their last match of the season, so we’re expecting them to come out firing. But we also want to make a step up and ensure we keep on improving as the season progresses.”
Springbok team:
15 Willie le Roux – (13 caps, 25 Test points)
14 Cornal Hendricks – (1 cap, 5 Test points)
13 JP Pietersen – (52 caps, 80 Test points)
12 Jan Serfontein – (10 caps, 5Test points)
11 Bryan Habana – (96 caps, 275 Test points)
10 Morné Steyn – (55 caps, 649 Test points)
9 Fourie du Preez – (Vice-captain, 68 caps, 75 Test points)
8 Duane Vermeulen – (17 caps, 10 Test points)
7 Willem Alberts – (31 caps, 35 Test points)
6 Francois Louw – (29 caps, 25 Test points)
5 Victor Matfield – (Captain, 111 caps, 35 Test points)
4 Flip van der Merwe – (34 caps, 5 Test points)
3 Jannie du Plessis – (52 caps, 5 Test points)
2 Bismarck du Plessis (Vice-captain, 58 caps, 45 Test points)
1 Tendai Mtawarira – (54 caps, 10 Test points)
Replacements:
16 Schalk Brits – (6 caps, 0 Test points)
17 Gurthrö Steenkamp – (50 caps, 30 Test points)
18 Coenie Oosthuizen – (15 caps, 10 Test points)
19 Lood de Jager – (1 cap, 0 Test points)
20 Schalk Burger – (69 caps, 65 Test points)
21 Ruan Pienaar – (75 caps, 130 Test points)
22 Wynand Olivier – (37 caps, 5 Test points)
23 Lwazi Mvovo – (8 caps, 5 Test points)
Date: Saturday 21 June
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Kick-Off: 15:00 SA Time (14:00 BST, 13:00 GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Francesco Pastrana (Argentina)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
Stats and facts:
- The Springbok starting team boasts a total of 681 Test caps (295 in the backline and 386 in the forwards), while there are a further 261 caps worth of experience on the bench.
- South Africa and Wales have played each other 28 times since 1906, with the Springboks winning 26 Tests, losing one and one was drawn. The Springboks have scored 777 points and 97 tries and conceded 398 points and 33 tries for an average score of 28-14.
- Victor Matfield will be playing in his 112th Test for the Springboks, breaking the record he shared with John Smit. He will be playing against Wales for the 12th time and will also extend his record of 111 appearances as a lock for South Africa.
- Bryan Habana will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok wing, with 95 Tests in this position and if he scores a try, will extend his record of 55 Test tries for South Africa. He has also played in one Test at outside centre.
- Morné Steyn will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok flyhalf, with 53 Tests in this position. If he scores a try, he will also extend his record of eight Test tries as a flyhalf for South Africa.
- If he scores a try, Bismarck du Plessis will extend his record of nine test tries for South Africa as a hooker. Bismarck and his brother Jannie will also be playing together in their 33rd Test, which is a Springbok record for brothers.
- Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis and Jannie du Plessis will extend their record of 15 Tests as a front row for South Africa.
- If he goes on Schalk Burger will extend his record as the most capped Springbok flank, with 67 Tests in this position. He also shares the record with Juan Smith for the most Test tries as a flank (11).
- If he goes on and scores a try, Gurthrö Steenkamp will extend his own record of six tries as a prop for South Africa.
- Ruan Pienaar, Schalk Burger and Flip van der Merwe are the sons of ex-Springboks Gysie Pienaar, Schalk Burger (Snr) and Flippie van der Merwe (Snr), while Francois Louw is the grandson of ex-Springbok Jan Pickard.
- Wynand Olivier last played for the Springboks on 23 June 2012 against England in Port Elizabeth.
- The referee is Steve Walsh of Australia (previously New Zealand). This will be his 16th Test involving South Africa. The Springboks have won 11, lost one and three were drawn. His last game was the Test against Argentina on 24 August 2013 in Mendoza, which the Boks won 22-17.
Springbok Test match records at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit :
- Most points – 10 (2c, 2p) by Morne Steyn on 15 June, 2013 against Scotland.
- Most tries – one each by JJ Engelbrecht and Jan Serfontein on 15 June, 2013 against Scotland.
- Most conversions – two by Morne Steyn on 15 June, 2013 against Scotland.
- Most penalty goals – two by Morne Steyn on 15 June, 2013 against Scotland.
- Most drop goals – none
A team we all expected, It would be interesting to see if Ruan gets time at flyhalf.
Jeeez, what a lot of kak to sort out the last few days… and tomorrow I continue doing so in Ermelo…
Have done virtually no proper business in the last couple of days, almost none at all!
At least I managed to add 20 new rugby articles for you today…
Don’t say I do not have my priorities right!!
MacroBok, you know what I find somewhat ironic, all these people that took HM on because he mentioned Willie and Morne as up there with the best, and had so much to say about it, never even made a peep when White proclaimed Mvovo as the next Percy and a Bok fullback or after 1 SR game proclaimed that Sithole is a Bok at center.
Really so many double standards on some of the websites, it’s not even funny.
Now they attack Wynand, but fail to apportion blame to their own Frans, who if he didn’t drop his team mates, Wynand wouldn’t have been recalled.
Wow, what a comeback by the Aussies.
Netherlands just scored, and within seconds of the kickoff the Aussies hit back with a great equalizer.
@ nortierd:
The best part is how these people can complain that HM is not blooding youngsters, there is 2 games before the RC, White cant even rest his players against a lower Super rugby team weeks out from the playoffs? lol but they support him?
3 @ grootblousmile:
hehe thanks GBS, excellent priorities
@ MacroBok:
White has more pressure on him, if the Sharks don’t win the SR this year he will have to deal with thousands of hate mail, all scribbled in crayon of course, no sharp objects like pencils allowed in the hands of the average Shark supporter.
@ nortierd:
hehe crudely drawn drawings…can’t wait for them to fail
5 @ nortierd:
Flippet, is tim cahill still playing football?how old is he?
1 @ MacroBok:
Hi Macro have been and still am a Pienaar fan, possibly in the minority here but that’s because I see him play for Ulster still. There was a time that I thought he would be a really good flyhalf, just a pity he didn’t persist in that position, he has played mostly at scrumhalf for Ulster but has also filled at flyhalf for them too and have seen him really control games from there with allround displays of passing, running into gaps himself and getting good distance on line kicks, he also does the place kicking much of the time for them. Guess at international level there is more pressure with just a little less space and time to operate in.
@9
But i will feel bad for those sharks supporters that still want to get behind the national team
Pity for Marnitz Boshoff that he doesn’t get to make his debut at home. Maybe his time will come next week. The game against Scotland is surely one for lots of experimentation by Mr Meyer. He must try out the new centres in the group but I guess the problem is there are too many outside centres and not enough inside centres – Sithole and Jordaan (or is Jordaan an inside centre?)
@Macrobok
Cahill is only 34, a spring chicken compared to our Bok captain 😮
There are Shark supporters behind the Boks and some even consider these games real tests
May have missed it but do we know anything yet about the make up of the Bok squad for the Scotland test, ie. will the overseas based players be available for that. Even if they were think that would be a really good opportunity to try quite a few youngsters alongside some of the more experienced players. The one thing though that the Boks will have to watch out for will be a good back 3 for Scotland, probably going to be quite a settled one that play together for Glasgow. Rest of the backline will be a mix of combinations who won’t have played together much, although Vern Cotter may opt to start with Duncan Weir and Henry Pyrgos or have them together on the bench as they will know each other’s play fairly well too.
11 @ Bullscot:
Hey Bully,
While I honestly believe people may have been too critical of him (because of our lack of cleaning out at the rucks at times). It is quite surprising that he has all this hate directed towards him because he has never played for the Bulls lol
His form is good for Ulster but what makes him great there is that he kicks goal for Ulster and when he has a good day kicking at goal, most of the time people won’t worry too much about his general play? (same could count for Kockott?)
Regarding the space and time it is difficult to compare Heineken cup to Super Rugby to international rugby, but if the gap was that wide then how could England be so competitive against New Zealand for 2 games?
Cahill just got his second yellow of the tournament, so odds are this is his last game, will be missing the next one
13 @ Bullscot:
Well Jake is playing Jordaan at 12, so clearly he must be a springbok 12 😀
@ nortierd:
Hehe, He is the only Australian I know and I dont follow football at all
@ nortierd:
How are those stretchers in soccer? They look like coffins. Bloody woosies – the lot of them. 🙄
@ Bullscot:
Evening Bully
I don’t see the point of HM having to try out new centers, if De Allende wasn’t injured, I’m sure he would have gotten a run.
We have plenty centers, they are just injured at the moment, and even with them out, those their are doing a good enough job.
16 @ MacroBok:
I see the point you are making about the goal kicking as I said similar thing about Leigh Halfpenny recently, but in Ruan’s case I think his allround play there is also good and he is quite a leader in the Ulster group, seems (from the outside at least) to be looked up to, maybe this helps motivate him on to play better as well. The fact that have seen him play well at scrumhalf and flyhalf is something I also consider in his favour, the only thing which I would like to see him do is get to the ruck and clear straight away, he can dally at times there and wave his arms about a bit too much for my liking bit overall for me that is about the criticism I can find.
Not saying the gap is very wide but it just takes the game to be that little bit quicker and defenders to be in your face just a bit sooner to make a big difference I feel. Regarding England and New Zealand not sure but maybe it is because the difference in class between the two team’s players is not really as big as so many people believe, plus England have some very good coaches, am going to duck now to avoid the missiles
@ IAAS:
Lol
Some “serious” injuries occurring over there
18 @ MacroBok:
Ahh thanks didn’t follow them that closely to know that, just thought that coming from the wing he would be no 13. Well that’s good then as it gives Mr Meyer another option then at inside centre. For all the supposed nonsense going on it must be remembered that Jake White put Sithole in midfield and it sounds like he did really well so this gave the Boks another option in that position which they took up by selecting him in the group, but having made the group he must play next test.
@ Bullscot:
The arm waving does get annoying, but is is usually caused by either his own team not cleaning out properly or the other team playing the ball illegally.
People love complaining about the arm waving, but how often does it milk penalties?
Will be interesting to check for that this weekend…
20 @ nortierd:
)
Yes but the point is he is injured so hasn’t had the chance to be tested at the higher level and it is important to keep building depth as you never know when who will be injured, so in the meantime give someone (who is perhaps next in line behind de Allende) the chance to taste Bok rugby next weekend. That serves many purposes as it shows if they can perform in the systems in game time and would give them a boost of confidence which can spur them on to play even better when they get back to their province/franchise and also as that way they can’t play for another country either (oops didn’t say that did I
23 @ Bullscot:
hehe you should know everything we say about Jake and the sharks is basically tongue in the cheek 😉
I haven’t really followed Jordaan and Sbu that closely either, but they do form a good defensive line, but we rarely see them attack, when they attack they look ok but logically they are still behind
JDV
Mossie
JDJ
Damien
Jan
JPP
in the Que.
@ Bullscot:
When do you stop “building depth” when you have played the center 8th in the que?
@ Bullscot:
Sithole has only played a handful of SR rugby, HM won’t dish out jerseys so easily.
The problem Sithole has is that his best friend is Jake, and that also means his biggest enemy is Jake.
Jake does things that suits him first and foremost, so picking a guy is good, but then running off his mouth about how the guy must be a Bok etc doesn’t do the player much favors.
Jake wants to show up HM first and foremost in most of his decisions and comments
24 @ MacroBok:
Hey you are preaching to the converted thought I must be his biggest fan here, so was stepping back a little and trying to be a little objective and point out a possible chink in his game. My problem is not about it being to milk penalties but that it gives the backline slowerI guess I just want them to get on with the game as soon as possible so it makes it harder for the defensive team
26 @ MacroBok:
Yes and the first 4 in that list are not available and what happens if they are not available for big tests in the Rugby Championship and the other 2 pick up knocks (I know that is a very unlikely scenario) then you get someone making their debut against the All Blacks. Guess if they have played Super rugby against the Kiwi players they should be ok but still its a step up to that kind of test rugby.
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