{"id":829811,"date":"2026-07-28T20:56:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829811\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T20:56:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:56:20","slug":"victor-matfields-verdict-on-maa-nonus-bombshell-sharks-move-not-a-bad-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829811\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Matfield’s verdict on Ma’a Nonu’s bombshell Sharks move: ‘Not a bad idea’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Matfield has reacted to the Sharks<\/a>\u2019 bombshell signing of Ma\u2019a Nonu, who joins the Durban-based team in a leadership and mentorship role.<\/p>\n

The United Rugby Championship franchise confirmed the arrival of the All Blacks legend over the weekend, with Nonu extending his career despite being 44 years old.<\/p>\n

Having played over 100 times for New Zealand, earning his last cap in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, the midfielder has continued playing club rugby in New Zealand, the United States and most recently France, where he enjoyed a second stint at RC Toulon, becoming the oldest player to feature in the Top 14 and Investec Champions Cup.<\/p>\n

Now, his attention moves to Durban, where he will be tasked with developing the young players at the Sharks as well as assisting the team in building their club culture.<\/p>\n

Victor Matfield reacts to Ma\u2019a Nonu\u2019s Sharks move<\/p>\n

While there is a chance that Nonu<\/a> will still pull on a Sharks<\/a> jersey during his time in Durban, his main remit will be sharing the knowledge he has gained during his playing career, which has spanned over 20 years.<\/p>\n

Speaking on The Rivals podcast, Matfield<\/a> offered his reaction to the legendary centre\u2019s signing, stating that he believes that it\u2019s a great opportunity for the Sharks to tap into his knowledge of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a post I saw with JP Pietersen, who is the coach now, and he is 40, and Ma\u2019a is 44. It\u2019s a really interesting signing,\u201d the former Springboks captain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s 44, but I think to get him into the system and just to tap into some of his knowledge is not a bad idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the former lock added that the same Nonu who used to terrorise South African defences won\u2019t be arriving in Durban.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t know how much he will play, but I mean to get him there to get his knowledge of the game, to get some of the IP out of him,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has got a lot of knowledge about the game, and he was a fantastic player. From the few times I\u2019ve seen him play for Toulon last year, he is not the Ma\u2019a Nonu that we knew when he was playing for the All Blacks, but he\u2019s still not a bad player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ardie Savea has \u2018earned the right\u2019 to a break but All Blacks legend is wary Dave Rennie is making Sir Clive Woodward mistake<\/a><\/p>\n

Sir John Kirwan\u2019s verdict<\/p>\n

Matfield appeared on the show along with former All Blacks winger Sir John Kirwan, who coached Nonu during their shared time at the Blues.<\/p>\n

Kirwan believes that this is not just a great opportunity for the Sharks but for Nonu too, who will have to hang up his boot eventually and take look at what he is going to do after rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great transition for Ma\u2019a,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been an amazing athlete. I mean, I love the guy. I coached him. He\u2019s an amazing man.<\/p>\n

Ma\u2019a Nonu: All Blacks legend reveals why he has signed for the Sharks<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great transition for him to be a mentor-player. I hope he\u2019s more of a mentor than player because I think that\u2019s an important role for him. He\u2019s got the rest of his career ahead of him from a non-playing point of view. Victor will say this: it\u2019s even for the most balanced person, it\u2019s still a pretty scary time. And although Ma\u2019a has played at the highest level at 44, he still has a life ahead of him and what that might look like.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cI faced the same. Victor faced the same. At the end of my career, I didn\u2019t want to go back to being a butcher, did I? So, I had to do something. I went into management.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think it\u2019s a really good transition for Ma\u2019s as well. I think it\u2019s a win-win. It\u2019s smart. He has got a heck of a lot of knowledge; he runs a hard ship \u2013 he is so disciplined. To play until you\u2019re 44.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will lead by example. I think it\u2019s a good call.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Calls for Sharks to play Ma\u2019a Nonu against the All Blacks after \u2018shrewd\u2019 Durban move<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Matfield has reacted to the Sharks\u2019 bombshell signing of Ma\u2019a Nonu, who joins the Durban-based team in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,1182,200,1736,44,760,1042,1183,85],"class_list":["post-829811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-ma","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sharks","tag-south-africa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}