He has never been blessed with fast-twitch fibres, though.
And he may have just got up from the last ruck and was still catching up with play when he suddenly found himself in the open and with the line just ahead of him.
But Mata’afa did the next best thing. He swivelled back inside and got a deft offload to Paul Tupa’i, who scored in the corner and sealed the 30-20 win and back-to-back titles for Southern.
Southern coach Kees Meeuws chuckled at suggestions Mata’afa might have been catching his breath out on the wing.
"That is what he’s there for," Meeuws said.
"For his experience. He was there to solidify our scrum and also bring that cool, calming influence and remind the boys of their jobs.
"It was really good that he came on and did that."
The defending champions had desperately needed Mata'afa to add some starch to the scrum.
The Magpies made a terrific start.
Talented fullback Mackenzie Haugh imposed himself on the game with some wonderful touches.
He speared a tremendous skip pass to robust openside Konrad Toleafoa who scored in the eighth minute.
Paku got 10 minutes in the bin for his indiscretion and Southern was awarded a penalty try.
The visitors found themselves further behind when that man Haugh got on the outside of his marker and skipped through the tackle of another to score and stretch the lead to 17-0.
Dunedin seemingly had no answers. But those answers were actually quite obvious. Stop dropping the ball and stop infringing.
They had, in many ways, dug the hole they were in.
Paku got back some brownie points when he made a break which led to a penalty which Ryan Watterston popped over.
Dunedin swung back on to attack thanks to a fumble by powerhouse loose forward Mika Mafi.
The Sharks swung it left to the impressive Oscar Schmidt-Uili.
And right on halftime Dunedin got a push over try from a 5m scrum. No 8 Hame Toma controlled the ball and dived over.
Mata'afa made sure the scrum held firm once he was injected into the game. That is what he was actually for.
The inside ball was a pleasant bonus.
In many ways Mata'afa’s contribution summed up Southern’s season. They were a surprise package, really. The defending champions struggled at times during the round robin. A record of six wins, six losses was not terribly inspiring.
"We’ve had some ups and downs along the way," Meeuws said."We played some good rugby, we played some [terrible] rugby.
"But we had a belief in what we can do and it was just a matter of getting to that top six. I knew if we got to the top six we could pull it off."
Haugh added an early penalty in the second half and hooker Jake Mcewan dived over to establish a 25-15 lead.
Dunedin replied with a try to winger Ethan Schmidt-Uili — the younger of the Schmidt-Uili brothers — to set up a tense finish.
But big Mata’afa popped up just where he was needed and Tupa’i had the class to finish.
The scores
Southern 30
Konrad Toleafoa, Mackenzie Haugh, Jake Mcewan, Paul Tupa’i tries; penalty try, Haugh pen
Dunedin 20
Oscar Schmidt-Uili, Hame Toma, Ethan Schmidt-Uili tries; Ryan Watterston con, pen
Halftime: 17-15
