Auge Ratings: ENG vs RSA (EOYT 2018)

Ratings 

1. Kitshoff (7.0)
2. Marx (4.0)
3. Malherbe (7.0)
4. Etzebeth (6.0)
5. Du Toit (7.5)
6. Kolisi (5.5)
7. Vermeulen (5.5)
8. Whiteley (7.0)
9. Van Zyl (6.0)
10. Pollard (7.5)
11. Dyantyi (5.5)
12. De Allende (5.0)
13. Kriel (4.0)
14. Nkosi (5.0)
15. Willemse (5.0)
16. Mbonambi (5.0)
17. Du Toit (6.0)
18. Louw (6.0)
19. Snyman (7.0)
20. De Jager (5.0)
21. Papier (5.0)
22. Jantjies (5.5)
23. Esterhuizen (5.0)

Comments:
Damian: Some good, some bad. I take it many of the details have been missed, so I'll note why I didn't rate him higher than a 6. Three penalties, two knock-ons and another offside at a ruck after he was warned by the ref to leave. The latter was the penalty England scored to take the lead, which turned the momentum of the game in England's favour, something they never let go. Two runs which in which he slowed the attack and failed to pick up any runners around him. The first (32:07) had a 2 man overlap and the England wing marking up on Marx. The latter he slowed down and zig-zagged before going to ground. He gained good ground, but died with the ball and failed to bring anyone into the game. He often drifted wide into space towards the touchline. He bunched up runners outside him. When put into space he was more dangerous. There were two nice plays where Pollard threw cut passes in front of a flat three man pod which allowed Damian to get in between two defenders. These were:

1. 28:25 - Lineout: Cut pass S10 in front of flat POD (1.6.3). S12 in between E12 and E13. Beats E13, tackled E12. 
2. 42:55 - Lineout: Cut pass S10 in front of flat POD (1.6.3). Bumps E12, tackled E17.

I've seen New Zealand use this play, but Barrett occupied the role of Damian. From here he either runs or puts someone away in space. In these kinds of positions Damian can drive through the initial tackle by targeting a weaker shoulder. He was used as a decoy twice, allowing Pollard to move behind him and get some space. His runs coming into the line were hit or miss. A couple of strong and effective runs, some which were stuffed. He had his best at 09:23 off a scrum when he ran hard at the passive defence of E9. On defence he lacked stopping power, but actually made a couple of very nice stops laterally in space. He was beaten by E10 whilst drifting on his outside. He was turned inside out by a dummy and beaten cleanly on the inside, which resulted in England attacking deep into our 22. He was run over by E16. On the edge of the defence, he allowed E15 to run across the face of himself and get outside of him, into space. He made a tackle assist as S15 made the stop, but if S15 hadn't been there E15 would have been gone for the line. Passive defence and an inability to read the situation. A repeat of the WC semi in many ways. He was involved in a move with two miss passes to get Willemse outside the edge of the defence. Other then that, his distribution was nowhere to be seen. I wasn't surprised Rassie shifted him to 13. If he can continue to defend in space like he did against England, he'll be the logical choice at 13 for a demoted Kriel. 
Kriel: Another who failed to connect with anyone. Did very little in the game aside from a few tackles. Was beaten a few times as well. Not very effective. Did seem to organise our defence though. Very vocal. 
Steph: I saw no errors of any description. His rushes out the line were accurate and increased in intensity as the game progressed. Strong as a carrier. One of our primary carriers, if not our primary carrier. 
Lood: Hands of stone again. Regarded as our most powerful lock, he was anything but. Botched another attacking sequence in opposition 22 with poor handling. Fumbled a restart.
Whiteley: Physical and dynamic. Good all round game. Eclipsed Duane. 
Snyman: Very dynamic game. Strong and I didn't see any errors. His close quarter passing was excellent and increased the effectiveness of our forward carries. Much improved from the Pretoria test.
Van Zyl: Exceeded my expectations. Was very tidy and accurate, a few poor kicks aside. We missed the energy and aggression of Faf, but he allowed the Boks, more specifically, Pollard, to apply the pressure. Good distribution. 
Nkosi: Good under the high ball. Good finisher. However, I prefer Mapimpi, who works harder. Suspect defending. 
Dyantyi: The better of the two wings, but must work on his aerial skills. 
Willemse: Predictably failed to replicate the play making of Willie. Some good play, but overall of no significance. 
ENGLAND
They were overpowered and dominated in the lineouts and had no answer for our kicking game. When they started moving the ball they looked very dangerous. Their backline was significantly superior to ours on attack. Where we had dead-end runners they moved the ball around and created space. We were very fortunate not to concede a try. The Boks are a kicking team first and foremost. This isn't the problem, we need more distributors at centre. Our back three were wasted. Some more directness at 12. The pack was immense, even though Marx had a shocker. England did well to hang on and then pick us off.