I don't even agree with bringing Matfield back into the Boks or any other team. It doesn't make any sense.
All teams go through peaks and valleys in terms of their performance. Bringing back retired players does nothing for the confidence of the younger players who have been understudying them for a few seasons. In fact, if player performance is to be kept at its absolute peak, there should be no such thing as a guaranteed starting position for any player. If the supposedly better player thinks they are safe from being dropped they are not likely to be performing at their best. However, if they know there's a chance that they might not be in the starting lineup because of a young whipper-snapper who plays the same position, you bet they'll play better. Same goes for the whipper-snappers. If they have a sniff at making their senior counterpart look past his prime you bet they're going to take the opportunity.
What Natal needs are more whipper-snappers and it pains me that instead of bringing them in the way they did the Beast, Francois Steyn, Lwazi Mvovo, JP Pietersen and Patrick Lambie, they are looking to poach players from other unions. Doesn't buzz my budgie.