Former Springbok and Bulls lock turned television analyst, Victor Matfield, could be the man to lead the Springboks in their opening Test against England if Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has his way.
Earlier this year Matfield, who made 110 appearances for the Springboks in an international career spanning a decade, intimated at the possibility of coming out of retirement to play for the Springboks if Meyer asked him to.
Now Matfield is said to be seriously considering a return after Meyer apparently sent an SOS to the former Bulls skipper.
Matfield, however, subsequently denied wanting to come out of retirement after some stinging criticism from the public but in his time as line-out consultant for the Bulls this year, he has been training and running with the team.
Standing in the way of Matfield’s return will be his lucrative contract with pay television station SuperSport but it seems that Meyer and Saru might just be able to secure a temporary release for Matfield to play for this year only.
Meyer has made no secret of the fact that he believes Matfield had retired too early – after last year’s Rugby World Cup. After all, it was Meyer who groomed Matfield into a formidable leader during his successful tenure as Bulls coach.
On Sunday, Meyer confirmed that Matfield was a certainty to join the Boks as a line-out consultant. – The Star