The Boks bounced back from their shock defeat at the hands of Japan to record a morale-boosting 46-6 win over Samoa in Birmingham on Saturday and Matfield, who must be favourite to take over the captaincy from the injured Jean de Villiers, said while coach Heyneke Meyer took charge this week and laid down the law, a similar performance would be expected this coming weekend against Scotland.
“We are exactly in the same situation as last week,” Matfield said.
“The coach brought his craziness to the team, he was fantastic this week. It is so easy to follow him if he gets into this zone. We need to be in the same zone this weekend, and we will take it game for game.”
“We’ve got a huge game against Scotland next week. They were very good in their first game, so we need to start early on Monday morning. We need to put in the hard work and get ourselves mentally ready. There is only one game that matters now and that is Scotland. All the focus will go into that one,” Matfield added.
The Bok vice-captain is very much aware of the pressure the Boks are under, and if they beat Scotland they are likely to top the pool and qualify for the semifinals. But after the shock against Japan, nothing is being taken for granted at the moment.
“We are still under pressure and coach Heyneke has this story of when players are under pressure they turn into diamonds,” Matfield added.
