THE battle lines have been drawn for the highly anticipated "master versus student" showdown between veteran Victor Matfield and Pieter-Steph du Toit.

The battle of the No5 locks will take place on Saturday, when Matfield's Bulls travel to Durban to face the Sharks as the sides begin their Super Rugby campaigns.

Although most eyes will be fixed on which team gets off to the best start, nothing will attract more interest than the battle between the Springboks' former No5, who recently ended a two-year "retirement" from the sport, and the 21-year-old Du Toit, dubbed the next man for the lock position in the national team.

Having played only 30 minutes in his first comeback match - a Super Rugby warm-up match against the Stormers almost a fortnight ago, Matfield predicted a "tough, but not pretty" opener between the two sides at Kings Park.

"It's not going to be easy down in Durban. It's probably going to be wet, humid and hot. It's going to be a difficult game. I don't think it will be a pretty game, but a grinding match. We will need to be on top of our game," Matfield predicted.

The 36-year-old, who is likely to come off the bench and replace Grant Hattingh, has been putting in the necessary hard yards at training to ensure he matches up in all aspects of the game against Du Toit, who is 15 years his junior.

The towering Matfield's determination was evident at yesterday's Bulls training session at Loftus. For more than an hour before his teammates arrived for the day's training sessions, the veteran sweated it out in the gym and cut a lonely figure on the field for various drills.

A fit and determined Matfield, who dominated the lineouts against the Stormers and at training over the past week, can give the younger Du Toit a good run. And, we can expect answers to the question of whether there will be a need for the veteran to return in the green and gold Bok jersey.