Rugby
Matfield gives Bakkies advice
2011-02-22 17:27
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Buddies for life? (Gallo Images)
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Brenden Nel - SuperSportPretoria - Springbok lock Victor Matfield has given his team-mate some sage advice
ahead of an impending move to Toulon in France after the World Cup :
Learn French quickly.
Matfield, who has shared almost every high in
South African rugby with his Bulls and Bok team-mate, and who shares the
world record for appearances by a lock combination with Bakkies Botha, joked
that Botha needed to learn the language fast, simply to “protect
himself” in the rough and tumble that is French rugby.
Matfield
was ironically at Toulon for six months, cutting short a two year
contract to return home early after he found he didn’t enjoy the rugby
out there.
While the world’s number one lock was at the same club, he
was played at flank, and has often told of the amount of thuggery he saw
in French rugby during his time there.
Botha, though is not one
to take a step backwards at a physical confrontation, and is likely to
relish the physical battle at the French club when he joins Joe van
Niekerk, Matt Giteau, Jonny Wilkinson and Gavin Henson there.
Matfield chuckled when asked about his advice for Botha, then decided
quickly the language barrier was the best weapon the big lock could
have.
“My only advice to him is that he learns to speak French
very quickly. That will be good protection for himself in the punching
culture out there. He needs to learn to speak French,” Matfield said.
While the Bulls still have not confirmed Botha’s move as they haven’t
received official word on it yet, SuperSport.com has it on good
authority that Botha signed on Friday night and sent the contract through
to France on Saturday morning.
Toulon are expected to announce
the signing shortly, but Botha simply wants to concentrate on his rugby
in his last few months at the Bulls.
Bulls High Performance
manager Ian Schwartz said they knew about Botha’s intention to leave at
the end of the season.
“We knew he wanted to further his career
overseas and every player who is leaving us, is not a surprise to us. We
made plans a year ago and Bakkies told his fellow players that he
wanted to continue his career overseas and he didn’t want it to be a
surprise to them,” Schwartz said.
“He told them he wants to
concentrate on his rugby this year.”
Matfield echoed Schwartz’s
sentiments.
“Talk like that is for the end of the year and I
know he (Bakkies) wants to achieve a lot in South African rugby in the
next eight months before then.”
Far from his last attempt to
join the French club, the Bulls will be overjoyed to know that Botha
wants to leave on a high, and with a Super Rugby title to defend, and a
World Cup after that, we may not have seen the best of the big lock just
yet.