Matfield commends Springbok fibre
Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:59
No break: Bok captain Victor Matfield to play for the Bulls
South African Victor Matfield led his side to a massive 53-8 Tri-Nations victory over Australia in Johannesburg on Saturday, and lauded his team's character in securing the record win.
Having taken over the captaincy role for the Springboks in the absence of an injured John Smit, Matfield has unfortunately worn a large part of the public criticism in recent weeks for his under-performing side.
A wounded Springbok is notoriously dangerous, and Matfield's men certainly proved that on the park in Johannesburg when a record of sorts would have been the Boks only faith-restoring option.
Not only did the Springboks record a winning victory margin (45 points) over the Wallabies, they continued to hold the visitors to their Ellis Park (now renamed Coca-Cola Park) hoodoo by denying them their first win in Johannesburg since 1963.
Jongi Nokwe also joined the record books by being the only South African to score four tries in a single Test match against Australia.
In short, the resounding victory couldn't have come at a better time for the embattled captain.
"Yes, it's awesome [the victory], especially after the last three weeks," said Matfield shortly after full-time.
Prior to Saturday's match, the Springboks had only recorded one Tri-Nations win in five outings, with two of those losses uncharacteristically occurring on home turf.
"We were under a lot of pressure and it's been tough for the team.
"But I thank the coaches for sticking by us, as our guys just showed they've got the talent to do it."
The Springboks were a side reborn on Saturday, having seemingly addressed almost every aspect of their game - a game that had no "gameplan" in their previous two Tri-Nations encounters (against the All Blacks and Wallabies respectively) and which exposed a host of weaknesses, which were duly exploited.
This week the Boks had numbers at the breakdown, secured turnover ball, secured ball in the line-out, and had runners in the right places to feed off the set phases.
On top of all that, the Springboks showed guts and character, and managed at last to play 80 minutes of rugby with confidence.
"I think character comes out when the going gets tough," said Matfield.
"Today the guys showed they've got a lot of character.
"We'd just like to thank everyone close to us that supported us through these tough three weeks, and kept believing in us," he added.
