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International

‘They look vulnerable’: Victor Matfield spots weakness ahead of Boks' first All Blacks clash

Josh Raisey

Published: 18 August 2026 07:40 CDT

Scrum during the Castle Double Malt Rugby's Greatest Rivalry match between Vodacom Bulls and New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld on August 15, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Former South Africa captain Victor Matfield has said that he “saw something” in the All Blacks‘ 50-19 win over the Bulls at the weekend that showed a weakness in Dave Rennie’s side ahead of their first meeting with the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The All Blacks completed their final warm-up match before the Test series with a comfortable win at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, building a 24-0 half-time lead.

As impressive as the visitors were in the first half, the former Springboks lock has said they looked “vulnerable” in the second half as the “pressure came” from United Rugby Championship runners-up.

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Of course, the All Blacks had a comfortable cushion to fall back on in the second stanza, but Matfield believes the Springboks would have drawn confidence from watching the performance.

Speaking on his Rugby Rivals podcast, the 2007 World Cup winner said that he expects that vulnerability to be exposed again in Johannesburg if Rassie Erasmus’ side “really bring the physicality”.

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“I think they’re looking good,” he said. “I think they are really dangerous in transition play at the moment. It’s like the All Blacks of old. There were a few guys who really impressed me. I thought [Anton] Segner, the opensider, who I didn’t know, was really good, and then Rieko Ioane I thought was outstanding against the Bulls. I still think No.13 is his position, he just looked sharp, he looked fast, every time he touches the ball he looked really dangerous. I think there are a few guys who put their hands up and said ‘listen, we want to be selected for the first Test match.”

“But I do think there was a little bit in that second half where I thought the Springboks would have a look at this and think ‘If we really put the pressure on, if we really bring the physicality, if we keep them in their half, they look vulnerable.’ I just think something in that Bulls game, the first half I thought the All Blacks were great, and then the second half, once the pressure came a little bit from the Bulls, I just saw something that I’m looking forward to for Saturday.”

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Comments

8 Comments

FL 25 days ago

Allow me to be the first to say that the AB’s are one of the best in world rugby, but I have seen the games they have lost in the past come down to this: Every time the Springboks have beaten them, the Boks were up in their face for the full 80 minutes. I’ve seen that when England beat them in Japan, and also when the Boks beat them at Twickenham. As good as the ABs are when you allow them to play their game, they get rattled under continuous pressure when they cannot play their normal flow rugby.

JW 26 days ago

‘If we really put the pressure on, if we really bring the physicality, if we keep them in their half, they look vulnerable.’

That doesn’t really make sense (but it is Rugbys Rivals) but I think I get what he’s saying about the idea of vulnerability. They are still doing the same thing they did for Razor, playing absolutely great and the zoning out and losing that edge.

I dont really know if the opposition can actually influence that though. Like I feel that if the Springbok can contest better in that phase and not allow ABs to creep ahead it’s like that could force the ABs to actually stay in the game longer.

Doing what they did the last few years letting ABs in and thinking theyre controlling the game and then just trying to put on their own blitz, has been the winning tactic.

pc 27 days ago

They eased off. The game was done by half time with the bulls not having firing a shot. The abs have the tests to think about. Didnt want to tire or injure after all.

JW 26 days ago

Yes well I’ve pointed out the problematic similarities with what Matfield talks about in my post but their is certainly a case where many of last games players would be backing up this week.

rs 27 days ago

yeah victor, good to see reiko has his mojo back!

hope to see him and jordie let loose & carve up the bok centres.

d 27 days ago

So the obvious ploy for the Boks is to let the ABs get overconfident with a 24-0 halftime lead. But the Boks are rightly odds-on favourites at home, with RWC27 looming the ABs will be happy just to find their style after the Robertson fiasco.

unknown 27 days ago

Nothing can be said about the strength of the AB team after the Bulls game. It was entertaining but that’s where it stops.

Saturday’s NZ team will be a different beast than what we’ve seen so far.

Just need to be patient and wait for Saturday and preferably avoid the media hype.

HS 27 days ago

The score in the 2nd half of that game was 3 tries to 4. Not sure how much can be taken from that, but the defence was not very strong, especially in the Vermaak try.

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