Boks: Are ye sneering at us?

SOUTH AFRICA captain Victor Matfield has primed Irish rugby fans for a backlash after hearing his side dismissed as a threat for this evening’s opening autumn international at the Aviva Stadium (5.30pm).

The world champions have been framed as vulnerable tourists after five defeats in six Tri-Nations matches this summer, 13 frontline players failing to make the trip through injury and head coach Peter de Villiers under pressure to turn things round after reports of a bust-up with his assistant coaches.

The Springboks arrived in Dublin on Thursday to be greeted with headlines that they were underdogs and in line for a fourth straight defeat in the capital while Irish bookmakers have the home side as 8/13 favourites.

That has clearly rankled the South Africans and Matfield said yesterday: “We had a little chat this morning about believing in ourselves.

“Arriving here yesterday and seeing a lot of guys not giving us a chance, hopefully it will motivate us to come out and show that these guys have a lot of talent. This may not be the most experienced side but we still think we’ve got a lot of talent.”

Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, who will be fit to return from a hamstring strain, refused to join in the Bok-bashing when he said: “I’ve never seen a poor touring Springboks team and I don’t envisage them being any different this weekend.

“Having lost the last three games in Dublin I’m sure they’ll be trying to make a point of changing that. They have large numbers who play in South Africa and have lots of quality.

“Some of the guys have a wealth of experience against top teams, playing against New Zealand and Australia a number of times. Guys like Bismarck du Plessis and Bakkies Botha are back and the Springboks are always tough.”

The beleaguered Springboks also received a boost yesterday when former Munster centre Jean de Villiers was passed fit to start in midfield having recovered from a groin injury.

That came as welcome news to Matfield: “He’s our leader in the backline so it will be nice for me to have Jean there and making calls and keeping everything together. He’s a quality player so it’s great that he’s fit.”