Rugby:South Africa lock Victor Matfield wants the Springboks to create a bit of history by lowering New Zealand's colours at Eden Park in tomorrow's Tri Nations opener in Auckland.
The visitors have not won at the famous old ground since 1937, and a win tomorrow would be a major boost ahead of the defence of their world crown in the land of the long white cloud next year.
Both semi-finals and the final of next year’s competition will be held at Eden Park, and Bulls second row Matfield believes his side can end their horrendous record in the North Island city.
“The history is there to be changed,” Matfield said. “Eden Park is home for the All Blacks. They are at their best there. It will be tough, but we don’t expect anything less. We’ve got a lot of belief in ourselves and what we are doing. We trust each other.
“We’ve been building for longer than last year and the things we do in the Super 14 always come through in the Tri Nations.”
Graham Henry’s All Blacks are looking to bounce back from their unprecedented 3-0 whitewash at the hands of the Springboks during last year’s Tri Nations.
The line-out proved to be a problematic area for New Zealand in those losses, struggling against the brilliant set-piece work of Matfield and Bakkies Botha, but their New Zealand counterpart Brad Thorn is bullish the home side can turn it around and provide a solid performance in that area.
“The Tri Nations is the major competition in the world each year so I guess we’ll see where it [the line-out] is at,” he said. “It’s just a great competition of six games of absolute tough rugby. I played in the World Cup, it far surpassed that for me. We’re lucky to play it each year.
“It’s a great test, South Africa are really strong at the moment. To me, I think that is great. The Springboks are traditional rivals and you want them at their best.”
Both coaches have opted for experience with Boks boss Peter de Villiers selecting namesake Jean, normally a centre, on the wing and Botha being restored to the second row. Zane Kirchner is preferred to Gio Aplon at full-back. Schalk Burger, Francois Louw and Pierre Spies make up the back row.
Henry has selected the most experienced starting line-up in All Blacks history, boasting a total of 671 caps. Mils Muliaina keeps out Israel Dagg at full-back and centre Ma’a Nonu returns from a lengthy absence with a knee injury to keep Benson Stanley out of
midfield.
Tony Woodcock packs down at loosehead prop with Tom Donnelly partnering Thorn in the second row.