Springbok icon Victor Matfield says New Zealand currently lacks “athletes” like Jonah Lomu, who helped make the All Blacks one of the most dominant teams on the planet.
New Zealand suffered a rare defeat on home soil to Argentina in the Rugby Championship last week. On Saturday, Los Pumas face the All Blacks in their second Test at Eden Park, where the Kiwis have not lost in 30 years.
In the two-Test July tour to the Land of the Long White Cloud, England missed a huge opportunity to record a win over an All Blacks side looking increasingly vulnerable in their own backyard.
Speaking during the latest episode of SuperSport’s ‘Final Whistle Presents Side Entry’ with former Bok assistant coach Swys de Bruin, Matfield compared the current All Blacks side to teams from the past while highlighting what boss Scott Robertson needs to consider going forward.
“I went through that whole [Argentina] game again and when they [the All Blacks] were under pressure, I looked back at the days when the All Blacks were really scary and the one thing they always had were athletes that were better than the other team,” the 121-Test centurion said.
“They had backline players who were bigger and faster than other teams – they don’t have it [anymore]. I look at the New Zealand All Blacks backs and they don’t have better athletes than any other team.
“If you compare them against a South African [player] and you give our wingers a one-on-one [chance] our wingers will be better. If you give our centres a go, our centres will be better than them.
“You’ve never had that. There’s no Tana Umaga, there’s no Ma’a Nonu, there’s no Jonah Lomu, there’s no Christian Cullen. They don’t have that anymore.
“Like South Africa they’ve gone for guys that’s good in the air, and went for fullbacks on the wings. They’ve gone away from strong, big wingers.
“I see this week they’ve gone with Caleb Clarke, who’s probably a better wing for them with ball in hand. He will carry hard, he’ll be a threat.”
De Bruin, meanwhile, questioned whether the versatile Beauden Barrett should be playing fullback or replace “Super Rugby player” Damian McKenzie at flyhalf for the All Blacks.
“Game-wise I see the problem there; I don’t think Beauden Barrett should be 15. He went to the Blues playing and running the show there at 15, but in his heart he wants to play 10,” he said.
“They’ve got McKenzie who’s really good with ball in hand and a good stepper and plays like a Jack Russell. [But] he’s a Super Rugby player par excellence because the pace and space is different.
“What he does at 10 is he often takes [the ball] one too far, and when he wants to kick there’s so much pressure…”
Photo: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images
The post Big Vic: All Blacks don’t ‘scare’ Boks appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
