Rugby: Matfield shuffle the secret to Springboks' lineout

South Africa lock Victor Matfield spends hours studying footage of opponents. Photo / Getty Images

DURBAN - The dancing feet of Victor Matfield provide the secret behind South Africa's lineout success according to the All Blacks.

In an age of exhaustive video analysis, it seems nobody can come up with a way to consistently deny the Springboks and the Bulls from raiding lineout ball when Matfield is about.

Unquestionably the world's premier lock this decade - inheriting the 1990s crown worn by Wallabies great John Eales - Matfield was at the heart of the Springboks' 2007 World Cup triumph.

It is notable the Bulls won Super 14 titles in 2007 and 2009 when the 32-year-old from Pietersburg was in full flight but they slumped to 10th when he took a season off to play for Toulon in France.

The hours Matfield spends studying opponents is the stuff of legend but All Blacks forwards coach Steve Hansen believes he brings a physical and instinctive skill that other leading locks struggle to match.

And he is helped out by a coterie of tall South African teammates working in unison.

"I don't think there's anyone under six foot two doing any lifting, particularly their back five, they're all very tall," Hansen said.

"Matfield's so good on his feet that he covers a lot of space. He puts himself in the game at lineout time by just getting up there.

"Half a lift from blokes that are as tall as they are, if you get it marginally wrong then you're in trouble, whether it's your thrower, jumper or lifter."

Such small margins for error may well have prompted the All Blacks lineout brains trust - Hansen and the four locks on tour, Isaac Ross, Brad Thorn, Bryn Evans and Jason Eaton - to devise a fresh plan this week in search of that most previous lineout commodity, space.

It says something about the Springboks' standards that captain John Smit actually praised the All Blacks' lineout straight after South Africa's 28-19 win at Bloemfontein last weekend, believing the tourists did well to win a decent chunk of its own ball. This despite an erratic display in which possession was continually lost or made scrappy by Springbok hands.

And the New Zealand forwards rarely contested the hosts' throw.

Hansen wasn't keen to explain why but hooker Andrew Hore gave some insight into the methodology behind allowing Matfield unfettered access to possession.

"We had spots we were going to jump in and spots we were going to try to stop their drive," he said.

"We'll have a look at the tapes and see if it did or didn't work. We might have a different plan next week."

Matfield and Bulls hard man Bakkies Botha will extend their world record locking combination to 49 tests at Durban on Sunday morning (NZT).

Matfield will also join lock Mark Andrews and fullback Percy Montgomery on 19 tests against the All Blacks, a Springboks record.

- NZPA