There is a little lesson for us to learn if we look back," Victor Matfield says cautiously and with none of the arrogance he might be expected to show as the world's best lock forward and a talismanic figure in South African rugby. "Twelve years ago, just like now, the Springboks were world champions and most people made the mistake of thinking we'd stuff the Lions 3–0. And look what happened. The Lions shocked everyone by winning. It was a painful defeat and that memory makes me careful not to make any big statements before the first Test [a week on Saturday] in Durban. It's best we prepare ourselves for a real battle."
The Lions have been puzzlingly inconsistent on this tour – with an outstanding midweek display sandwiched between two unconvincing victories. But they should be as disconcerted by Matfield highlighting that bitter Springbok defeat in 1997 as a means to offset any lingering complacency in the hosts. "It's important we don't forget it," he urges, "because the Lions could spring some surprises again. Wednesday's game showed me how impressive they can be. The Golden Lions were not good but you don't score 70 points against a Super 14 team without producing something special."
Yet Matfield's beloved provincial side, the Bulls, managed virtually the same feat in a far more meaningful encounter. Ten days ago, while the Lions struggled to win their tour opener against a second-rate invitation XV, Matfield led the Bulls to a crushing 61–17 victory over New Zealand's Waikato Chiefs in the Super 14 final. "It was one of the happiest days of my life," he says, "because it went perfectly. It was one of those incredible days where you're preparing for a game you think is going to be the toughest of your life and then all of a sudden everything you try comes off."
That supremacy prompted Warren Gatland, a Lions coach and a Waikato man, to suggest the Bulls would have beaten most leading Test sides. "I think so," Matfield agrees. "Six months together gave us an understanding a Test team can't create in two weeks. The best comparison I can make is that when the [Canterbury] Crusaders dominated the Super 14 they were harder to beat than the All Blacks."
Nine of the Bulls have been chosen for South Africa's squad that gathered yesterday to prepare for the first Test – and the addition of hardened World Cup winners such as John Smit, Schalk Burger and Juan Smith along with skilful playmakers such as Ruan Pienaar and Francois Steyn mean the Springboks will be formidable. Matfield might have preferred a couple of warm-up Tests before facing the Lions but the Springboks' collective desire to avenge 1997 should bind the team together. The 32-year-old grunts meaningfully when reminded of a conversation on the night the Springboks won the World Cup in October 2007.
His thick black hair was still wet from the showers and he admitted to feeling as weary as he was jubilant but Matfield suddenly lit up in Paris. He told how the prospect of facing the Lions would shape his future. With the Webb Ellis Cup being passed from one Springbok to another, Matfield stressed how much he wanted to play against the Lions. It seemed a striking urge in the midst of his greatest moment as a player.
"That's the power of the Lions," Matfield says now. "The fact that their tours to South Africa only come round once every 12 years. I also like this concept they bring to Test rugby by joining four unions together and that's why I was so keen to stick around for this tour."
Over the past four years Matfield has been world rugby's most dominant lock – symbolised by the bearded wonder from Pretoria being named the IRB's player of the 2007 World Cup. Matfield, if anything, has become an even more imposing and canny presence since that tournament as he steals the opposition's lineout ball with regularity.
His admirers speak of Matfield possessing a highly mathematical brain which allows him to break most lineout codes. Matfield laughs at the speculation – with the likelihood that his secret strategies are more attuned to him studying the involuntary trigger movements of the opposing locks as their hooker prepares his throw. The big man has still revolutionised modern lineout play.
"People have called me an innovator and that humbles me," he says proudly. "I think I've introduced some new ways of winning the ball but the other analysts are studying me on tape and so I'm always trying to develop new techniques. So far it seems to be working."
Such confidence allows Matfield to react with amusement when hearing that Willie John McBride, the great old lock and captain of the triumphant 1974 Lions, believes he will be "bossed" by Paul O'Connell. "That's very interesting," Matfield chuckles dryly. "O'Connell is the Lions captain and it's good he's supported by his people back home. But the idea of being 'bossed' by him makes me smile a bit. We'll see what happens."
Matfield, who is as smooth a diplomat as he is destructive in the lineout, removes the sting from his reaction. "I respect O'Connell. He's big and physical and our matches against Ireland have been tough in recent years. But it's been a while since I played against him so that makes it even more interesting."
His partnership at the heart of the Springbok pack, with his fellow Bulls lock Bakkies Botha, could be decisive. The two Afrikaners have become so inseparable on the team-sheet that it is mildly surprising to hear Matfield reveal that they are not especially close off the field. "Bakkies and I are quite different. He's happiest on the farm while I'm much more of a city guy. We have a very good understanding, and great respect for each other, but we don't go to each other's homes or spend time together away from rugby. Bakkies is very quiet but on the field he unleashes the animal in him. The Super 14 final was unusual because, just before the game, Bakkies spoke very powerfully. It was strange for him to use words rather than actions – but they had a big impact."
Botha and Matfield have both recently added to their families – with Matfield's second daughter, Giselle, being born eight weeks ago while Botha's third child followed last month. But after their Super 14 success they celebrated in contrasting ways. Botha retreated to his isolated farm north of Pretoria, where he shot a couple of wildebeest, while the more gregarious Matfield took his family on a leisurely break down in the Cape.
That brief spell away allowed Matfield to reflect on the way his post-World Cup fears have been replaced by sustained satisfaction. In late 2007 the victorious Springbok coach, Jake White, was apparently forced from his post because of political pressure to increase the quota of black players. His replacement, Peter de Villiers, seemed to have been picked on the basis of his colour – with the expectation he would break up a predominantly white side. "I was worried," Matfield concedes. "I didn't know much about Peter de Villiers – apart from him being an assistant coach of the Bulls when we were having a rough period a few years ago. My choice as coach was Heyneke Meyer [the former Bulls coach who worked with Leicester last season].
"But then I sat down with Peter and my perspective changed. He was very impressive when he outlined the way we would take South African rugby forward. And he's had an outstanding first year – topped off by the fact we beat the All Blacks in New Zealand [with the Springboks captained by Matfield that day]. The whole situation is very positive. Apart from being world champions, and winning the Super 14, we've just won the IRB Sevens World series. All we now need to do is to beat the Lions and win back the Tri-Nations."
Matfield's decision to limit a lucrative sojourn in French club rugby to a short contract last year with Toulon seems increasingly inspired. The money might have been enticing but the rewards, in rugby terms, for returning to South Africa have been justified.
"I found the rugby quite frustrating in Toulon because the standard wasn't great. But it opened my eyes to another culture. I had been expecting it to be low-key but the fans were even more full-on than South Africa and I couldn't go anywhere without being stopped. It showed how passionate they are about rugby over there."
That rugby passion still beats deeply in Pretoria, where the second Test against the Lions will be played, and Matfield relishes the prospect of facing O'Connell's men at home. "It reminds me of 1997 again. The one happy memory I have of that tour was that the Lions lost in Pretoria to the Bulls [then Northern Transvaal]. It was a close match but we won [35–30] and that was the only game the Lions lost until the last Test. I was nowhere near the Bulls team but I remember a lot of happy people in Pretoria that night. My one regret is that we won't get to see the Bulls play the Lions on this tour. But I'll be even happier to beat them with the Springboks this time."
