Ratings:
- Kitshoff - 6.0
- Marx - 6.8
- Malherbe - 6.0
- RG Snyman - 4.0
- Mostert - 6.0
- Kolisi - 4.0
- PS Du Toit - 5.5
- Vermeulen - 6.0
- Papier - 5.7
- Pollard - 6.2
- Dyantyi - 4.0
- De Allende - 4.0
- Kriel - 5.7
- Kolbe - 7.0
- Le Roux - 6.0
- Mbonambi - 5.8
- T Du Toit - 5.7
- Koch - 5.6
- Etzebeth - 6.5
- Louw - 5.7
- Van Zyl - 5.9
- Jantjies - 6.0
- Willemse - 5.6
Disappointingly, Snyman hardly got into the game when on. I can scarcely recount any possession and maybe a couple of tackles. Some ruck cleans. Very basic.
Steph started more brightly, but faded more and more as the game progressed. Lacked nothing for effort, but he was being knocked back, lost several balls in contact, conceded penalties and was generally inaccurate and subdued.
Kolbe was a vast improvement on Nkosi. As I pointed out earlier in the week, our wings have been struggling for space. Kolbe is our only wing who can cut back inside and beat defenders. He has a high motor, we didn't get as much out of him as we should have, and that isn't his fault. Some tenacious defence, punching above his weight.
Dytanyi was a liability time and time again as he was beaten rushing out of the line. He exposes his wing game after game. This has become an increasing occurrence on tour, though not entirely absent in the RC. Poor under the high ball.
Our centres were nonevents. I initially saw Kriel looking for the pass, which was nice. Nothing much thereafter. Damian had one good pass to breakout wide. Aside from that, nothing. Pollard was an improvement. We really could have used Esterhuizen to get us over the gainline. Our first attack of the game is a crash all which we struggled to secure and which slowed down our attack. Damian can't provide those incisive heavy carries. Another tactical failure by José.
Gameplan
It was a game surrendered tamely. It was also nieve to come out of the blocks and try to run at Wales, t hen retreat into a shell after they score. The kicking was poor. I actually thought the service from both 9s was good, van Zyl a little nipper with the pass. We persist with kicking, but don't have a single consistent aerial threat. We also struggle to contain and pressure receivers. Not taking points was another stupid mistake. When we did score our try we had 8 points. If we had gone for penalties, we would have likely been ahead by 1, which changes the game. On attack, we still persist with dead end runs or slow, telegraphed passes wide which fix nobody. Our wings are wasted. We are very behind the other top 10 nations. The Welsh attacked flatter and quicker, which was harder to read and adjust to.
