'You can't mention Maro Itoje and Eben Etzebeth in the same breath - Eben is a class apart'

Plenty has been made in the build-up to England’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against South Africa about the importance of the battle between Maro Itoje and Eben Etzebeth, two titans pitted against each other whose individual performances will likely dictate which side plays in the final next weekend in Paris.

Victor Matfield, the illustrious former lock who was a World Cup winner in 2007 and remains South Africa’s most-capped player, knows more about the intricacies of second-row play than most of us will learn in a lifetime. And in Matfield’s opinion there is a gulf in class between Itoje and Etzebeth, with England’s finest trailing far behind his Springbok counterpart, making what appears to be a pivotal one-on-one bout in fact a non-contest.

“Unfortunately, I can’t even mention them in the same breath. I just think Eben is way ahead,” Matfield tells Telegraph Sport. “Maro is a very good player, but Eben really stands out. Maro has the athletic ability to get around like a blindside flanker, get over the ball for steals, the work-rate. But I think when it comes to physicality, really being dominant in a tight game with mauling and rucking, just running into a wall, I think Eben is in his own class.”

Matfield first met Etzebeth when the latter was still a teenager, watching him play at the age of 19 for Western Province’s Under-21s. Matfield had retired from rugby following the 2011 Rugby World Cup and was working as a television pundit, going around South Africa on a book tour to promote his autobiography when he was approached by a young Etzebeth asking for a photo.

“My agent then organised for Eben to have a chat with me, so we had a braai at my agent’s house,” Matfield recalls. “He was 19-years-old and I told him ‘Eben, you can play for the Springboks next year’. He went ‘no way, I’m only 19, I haven’t even played senior rugby’. And then a year later he played for the Springboks. He has had all the talent from a very young age, you could see he was standing out by a mile.”

Etzebeth’s debut came in the summer of 2012 against England, a three-Test series where England prop Joe Marler also made his first appearances at international level. With Etzebeth standing at 6ft 8in and weighing 20 stone, naturally he was instantly picked out as an heir to Bakkies Botha, the great intimidator in South Africa’s pack paired perfectly for many years with Matfield alongside him as the lineout architect and athlete around the field. Yet in Matfield’s opinion there is more to Etzebeth’s game than simply pigeon-holing him as the physical tone-setter upfront.

“Bakkies and I were such opposites. Everything I was pretty bad at Bakkies was very good at, and the things Bakkies didn’t want to do I was very good at. With Eben, he has all of that combined almost in one person,” Matfield explains. “He has the physicality, he is in the faces of the opposition. But he also has the engine, the line-out ability which is unbelievable, good handling. When he was younger I wondered if he would also have the skill level, but it’s right there, making passes and putting people away. But the main thing is that physicality and work-rate. If there are high balls going up, most of the time Eben is the guy chasing them right at the front.”

Etzebeth’s try against France last Sunday was a perfect example of that power, rumbling through the tackle attempt of poor Matthieu Jalibert with enough momentum to take the France No 10 all the way to the Métro station outside the stadium.

When Matfield came out of retirement in 2014 for another shot at trying to win the Rugby World Cup he found himself playing alongside Etzebeth in South Africa’s engine room, with the Springboks coming up short in an 18-20 semi-final defeat to New Zealand at Twickenham. Matfield then retired for a second time having won 127 Test caps, a record Etzebeth is now bearing down on in a hurry. Saturday against England will be his 118th Test appearance, and he turns 32 the day after next week’s Rugby World Cup final.

“I think he will go to 150 Test matches,” Matfield predicts. “He has that knee injury which is not nice, but the moment he starts going flat out in a game, you don’t see anything wrong with it.

“He deserves [the record]. For me, he is the best player we have seen in a very long time in a Springboks jersey.”

When legends of Matfield’s calibre are handing out those kinds of compliments, you listen. If England are to have a prayer of defeating South Africa, they have to find a way to stop one of the Springboks’ all-time great players in Etzebeth.