J.J. Harmse

Pretoria - After 109 Super Rugby matches, of which 68 were as captain of the Bulls, nobody knows the team better than Victor Matfield.

And if he believes it's just a "matter of time" before his team gets the spark that drives them to another unstoppable title charge, he probably deserves the benefit of the doubt.

The lock admits that he needs something special from his senior players for that to happen and he issued an open invitation - or rather a challenge - to them to be the "spark plug" in Saturday's match against the Western Force in Perth.

"Nothing is different to previous years," Matfield told Sport24 in a frank interview.

"We are waiting for the spark to 'ignite the season', but I can feel that it's not far away. The team realises how incredibly important Saturday's match is and there is a noticeable urgency."

The Bulls came off second best against the brilliant Sonny Bill Williams three weeks ago and last week Quade Cooper was the Reds' ace against the Bulls.

On Saturday, they will be up against the "hottest" player in the tournament, James O'Connor.

He is not just the leading scorer to date this year (108 points), but also among the top 10 players as far as line breaks are concerned and among the top 20 in terms of meters gained.

Matfield considers the 20-year-old Aussie a special player who does special things in big games.

"He is a gamebreaker and the only way of neutralising him is if our game breakers also step up and turn the match on its head," said Matfield.

There is not unanimity among Bulls supporters about who exactly those gamebreakers are.

Statistics, as supplied by the Sydney Morning Herald and Sport Data, point to an already large work-rate for Pierre Spies, Wynand Olivier and Matfield. They are among the players who are criticised the most for their work-rate.

Olivier (96) and Spies (94) are among the top 10 in the tournament as far as tackles are concerned and among the top 20 with ball carries (Spies third with 77 and Olivier 15th with 64). Their contribution is therefore in the trenches rather than on the "dance floor".

Matfield (13th on the list with 88 tackles; and with 34 lineout balls won, sixth on that list) is also doing his bit, so one should rather look at other senior players that need to provide the spark.

Here one could point fingers at Bakkies Botha, Gary Botha and Chiliboy Ralepelle, but also to players at the back where Fourie du Preez and Morné Steyn are not creating any uncertainty among defenders on attack.

Hopefully Matfield's plea does not fall on deaf ears.

"Our problems weren't on tour because if we win this weekend and make it two from four, it's up there with the best tours that we had in the past. It was those slip-ups at home (losses to the Highlanders and Stormers) that are haunting us. That is why it's non-negotiable that we pull this one off," said Matfield.