Boks need mojo back

26 October 2015 - 02:07 By Craig Ray London

Veteran Springbok lock Victor Matfield believes that South African Super rugby franchises need to start winning regularly against New Zealand opposition if the Boks are to challenge the All Blacks in the future. The Springboks slumped to a 20-18 World Cup semifinal defeat against the All Blacks at Twickenham on Saturday, which will naturally lead to a bout of deep soul-searching.At 38, Matfield's future Test career can be measured in days, but he has also developed as a coach and recognises what it takes to beat New Zealand."We need to get our Super rugby competitiveness back up there and then the Bok side will be better," Matfield said."Central contracting would help with control over players, but essentially we need to beat New Zealand teams week in and week out at Super rugby level to build confidence again."Saturday's defeat to the All Blacks was the Boks' seventh loss in eight outings against the old enemy under current coach Heyneke Meyer. New Zealand overturned a 12-7 halftime deficit to win the game."We could have won just about every game against the All Blacks in the past few years - there have only been inches in it," Matfield said."We need to get our belief back because at some stage it was lost."The All Blacks are a very good team and I recognised their confidence when I came on the field. There is a belief that no matter how far behind they are they will win in the end."All I saw was calm confidence and great leaders making great decisions at the right time. They played with patience and kept us deep in our half. It was the perfect game."Meyer's future will be decided at a Saru general council meeting in December, but Matfield refused to write the coach off just yet.He said: "I believe in him. In some ways it is a very young squad. Yes there are four or five older guys, but take 10, 12, 13 and the two young locks and you can see there is so much talent."Heyneke would love to keep working with those youngsters and hopefully they can win the next World Cup."The Boks play in the World Cup play-off on Friday for third and fourth place and Matfield vowed that the team wouldn't just go through the motions."There is never a meaningless game in a Bok jersey. We will have a little break and then get back together and try to make it a special last outing."We need teams to start fearing the Boks again."..

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