Matfield: Leave referee to do job

VICTOR MATFIELD believes referee Christophe Berdos should be left to do his job and the rest should adapt when the second Test against the British and Irish Lions kicks off today.

There was some visible frustration with the man in charge of the first game in Durban last week – New Zealander Bryce Lawrence – after he repeatedly penalised Phil Vickery at the scrum during the opening 40 minutes, before things improved in the second half when the Englishman was replaced.

Matfield insists the decisions of Frenchman Berdos should not be dwelled upon.

“I think there’s going to be a few questions about the referee but we should rather focus on the things that we can control and that’s the most important thing,” he said. “Let him do his job, he’s a great referee and that’s why he got an important game like this.

“I think as long as the penalties go with the dominant scrum then you can’t really go wrong. That’s what happened last week. First half we got a lot of penalties because we dominated the scrums and second half they got a few when they started dominating.

“The most important facet is probably at breakdown, ruck time, how he interprets that. So we need to adapt to him as quickly as possible on the day and then just need to concentrate on our own game.”

The world champions went on to triumph 26-21 in the first Test and with the action now shifting to Loftus Versfeld, where Matfield captains the Bulls, he admits they will be hoping to turn in another winning performance.

“There are quite a few of the Bulls guys in the team,” said the lock, one of five players from the local team in the starting XV, with a further three on the bench. “So it would be great for us to play at Loftus.

“The crowd is as crazy as you get and it will be very nice to play there. But again, there will be a lot of Lions support as well, just like last week. I think Pierre Spies said yesterday ‘Loftus is not going to win the Test’.

“But yes, if we go out there and put pressure on the Lions, then hopefully altitude and everything can come into play.”

Matfield believes the altitude of the venue, 1,214 metres above sea level, will not be a major factor.

He said: “If we are playing Super 14 rugby and the whole squad is used to altitude, then it could be a big bonus. But there’s quite a few (of our) guys that are from the coast so I don’t think it will have that big an influence.

Schalk Burger will be the only new face in the starting line-up this week after recovering from a calf injury to replace Heinrich Brussow.

Matfield feels that despite losing a player with the fetching ability of the Cheetahs flanker, they were still gaining something more with Burger.

“I think Schalk brings a lot of experience,” he said. “He’s a big, strong ball-carrier, who’s everywhere on the park. He’s probably not as renowned at fetching as Heinrich is. But he’s been one of our star players for the last four to five years.

“He’s very strong over the ball. They’ll have to send two or three guys into the ruck to keep him out of there and that will make defence easier for us.”