Victor Matfield believes Handre Pollard should have been on the bench for the Springboks’ Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies at Ellis Park.

Coach Rassie Erasmus backed Manie Libbok to start at 10, but with no specialist flyhalf replacement in the 23, Libbok played the full 80 minutes as the Boks relinquished a 22-0 lead to suffer a shock 38-22 defeat — their first loss to Australia at Ellis Park since 1963.

Speaking on the Rivals podcast, former Bok lock Matfield said the team had been guilty of overconfidence.

“In that first half I looked at it and thought, I’ve never seen South Africa play with the width that we’ve played. It was unbelievable. We scored beautiful tries, it was so easy to get momentum, to get over the advantage line.

“But we played way too much rugby after we were 22-0 up. We didn’t have to play rugby – we could have just kicked it in behind them. I don’t think Australia’s got the game to threaten you from their own 22.

“They’re a team, like when Rassie started with the Boks, that don’t make mistakes and will punish you if you do. We gave them turnovers, gave them opportunities, and then all of a sudden the crowd went quiet and the pressure came onto the Springboks.”

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Matfield said the Bok bench also lacked impact.

“The Australian bench was way better than ours. Some of the guys coming on now don’t have the experience yet to be a good influence. The bench has been outplayed in the last few games.”

He added that not having Pollard among the replacements was a mistake.

“You’ve got Handre Pollard in your squad. You’re playing Australia, who just lost against the British & Irish Lions. How do you not have a guy that’s won you two World Cups, at least on the bench?

“Manie Libbok played brilliantly in the first half, but when the pressure came on, that’s when you want a guy like Handre to go on and calm things down.

“We were 22-12 up, in between the two 10m lines. You don’t have to play rugby there, just kick it in behind them, kick it into their 22. Instead, we tried a pass that was intercepted and all of a sudden the pressure was on us.”

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Matfield dismissed pre-match talk that the Springboks had enough depth to field five teams, insisting that the best players – like Pollard – should be involved in big games.

“Yes, we want to grow a squad and give youngsters opportunities under pressure. In the past they’ve come through, but this time they didn’t. I think it was a wake-up call for South Africa.

“We’re not so far ahead of everyone else that we can take these chances in big Test matches – we need our best players out there as well.”

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