Legendary lock Victor Matfield says that the Springboks were ‘screwed’ the last time they faced the All Blacks at Eden Park.
South Africa fell to a 29-15 defeat to New Zealand the last time the two nations squared off at the iconic stadium in Auckland, after referee Romain Poite gave hooker Bismarck du Plessis his marching orders.
The front-rower was shown his first yellow card of the match for a mammoth shot on All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter in the 15th minute of the 2013 Rugby Championship encounter.
The decision proved to be hugely controversial at the time and is still brought up by fans and pundits whenever the two sides face off, particularly in New Zealand.
Bismarck du Plessis’ red card in 2013
Carter’s match was ended by the hit, which sparked a brawl between the two sets of players. At the time of the incident, the Springboks trailed the All Blacks 7-3 and would extend their lead during Du Plessis’ sin-binning period with Brodie Retallick scoring his first Test try.
The hooker made an impact upon his return, scoring a try to make the scores 17-10 at the break, but his game was cut short early in the second half.
Two minutes into the second half, Du Plessis was shown a second yellow card and a subsequent red for leading with his elbow as he ran into Liam Messam.
The All Blacks quickly capitalised as number eight Kieran Read grabbed his second try of the match, with Sam Cane sealing the bonus point with his score. Patrick Lambie would score a consolation try for the Springboks as they succumbed to the defeat.
Ahead of the Springboks’ first game at Eden Park in 12 years, Matfield reflected on that match and his experience of playing the All Blacks at the venue.
In 2010, the lock started the Tri Nations fixture where the Boks were tipped to end the All Blacks’ unbeaten run at the ground after beating New Zealand in all three of their meetings the year prior. However, South Africa were comfortably beaten 32-12.
“I’ve arrived once at Eden Park as favourites, after we won three games in a row and New Zealand smashed us,” Matfield said on the Rivals podcast.
“You never arrive in New Zealand as favourites. The All Blacks are always favourites, especially when you play at Eden Park – it’s going to be a massive Test match.
“There’s going to be a nice build-up, it’s one for the history books. I think the previous time, we were there, we should have won and then they gave Bismarck du Plessis a red card for one of the greatest tackles ever in world rugby on Dan Carter, and that screwed us a little bit.”
Ex-All Blacks winger Sir John Kirwan interjected and added his view of that tackle on Carter.
“I thought he should have got 12 weeks, mate. That was one of the worst tackles ever,” he remarked.
“It was so late, it was nearly half-time.”
Matfield responded: “It was the best tackle just under the chest, one solid hit. But that’s what happens when you tackle Dan Carter.”
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Massive showdown
Turning his attention to this week’s fixture, the former lock continued: “It’s going to be a massive Test match, but I would also have preferred that New Zealand sneak past Argentina going into it, seeing the Boks struggling a little bit. But they’ll be up for it. It’s going to be massive.
“I think the Boks needed this because after that first Australian game, it just threw all the plans out. Normally, everything just works, but now they have to take a step back. We had this grind of a win, and now we can go back to developing the game and going forward.”
Meanwhile, Kirwan predicts a tight encounter in Auckland but is concerned that the All Blacks aren’t winning the key moments in Test matches, pointing to the two defeats in South Africa last year as well as the loss to Argentina in round two of the Rugby Championship.
“The series last year was amazing. I thought the rugby was outstanding from both sides, but South Africa won the critical moments,” he said.
“There was a critical moment, and don’t get me wrong, Argentina deserved to win, and we didn’t. But there was a critical moment around that lineout.
“What I think is going to happen is there’s no bigger motivation for South Africa coming down to New Zealand and trying to take that record away from us, and there’s no bigger motivation for New Zealand to keep the record, but also play South Africa.
“What concerns me is they’re [New Zealand] going to be really hurting, and they will arrive at Eden Park in the right state of mind, and so will South Africa. That’s what makes it so tantalising. But my biggest concern is just the critical moments, South Africa have this really clear understanding of what they are going to do when they’re under pressure.
“They’re going to work for a penalty, kick you into the corner, maul you, try for another penalty, pick and go, pick and go. That’s their DNA, and that’s what they go to under pressure; that’s what happened last year in South Africa in both Tests in the critical moments.
“What did we do? Gave away a couple of penalties and let them do that. So for me, the maturity of this all black side is going to be really evident at Eden Park because we’re going to have to win the critical moments.
“It’s going to come down to three points. It’s not going to be a blowout. It’s going to be an amazing test match. So that’s my only concern when you come off a loss because you don’t have that confidence.”