“He’s box office for many reasons… “
There are always players you dread coming up against, in rugby. The teams are named and your eyes scan to see if your nemesis is there.
Niko Matawalu is one of those guys that so many opposition players hate seeing. He’s even scarier in real life than printed on a squad list.
Having played with and against him, former Munster and Ireland centre James Downey is in a good position to offer some insight on the rapid, exhilarating Fijian. Downey and Kevin McLaughlin [former Leinster & Ireland] joined The Hard Yards podcast to hand out some end-of-year awards and the Glasgow back [from 27:00 below] got a couple of interesting mentions.
“He can win you a game or lose you a game like that,” remarked Downey, to which McLaughlin declared:
“He’s the single hardest player I’ve ever had to play against. He’s like a slippery eel. A very strong, slippery eel. You cannot get hold of him!”
Leinster definitely could testify to that after Matawalu’s stunning line break(s) against them earlier this season. On one counter-attack, he left five Leinster players for dead in the lead up to Nick Grigg’s try:
Downey recalled one particularly embarrassing one-to-one tackling drill he took part in with Matawalu. It’s a training ground drill most of us who have played rugby have been unfortunate enough to endure. Downey said:
“I wanted to work on my spatial awareness and my defence – so I could get close enough to making the right choice and the right tackle.
“He had 10 metres – and I don’t know what I was thinking giving him 10 metres – and it was a box, this square. I pass him the ball he he can pretty much only step left or right.
“10 times in a row, I did not touch him. 10 times. 10. 10 TIMES! Like, fresh air.
“I said to myself, ‘Look, I’ll hedge a bet and go one way or the other. It’s 50/50’. Nah. 10 times. I was like, ‘Oh my God’. I nearly retired and he’s there laughing.”
Matawalu was, and still is, so dangerous that McLaughlin says so much of Leinster’s match prep used to revolve around trying to shut him down. As we’ve seen, countless times before, that work often proved fruitless.
At least they didn’t ask Downey for advice…
