Bok Player ratings; Rugby 365

South Africa have blown the Scottish away as the young guns impressed in Port Elizabeth to give coach Heyneke Meyer something to think about. The Springboks were relentless in their attack, looking for tries where ever they could. The balance between experience and leadership of the old heads matched with the exuberance and power of the youngsters gelled together well. The Boks scored eight tries without conceding one in a 55-6 romp. Darryn Pollock rates the Springboks 15 Willie le Roux:Played his usual game with plenty of freedom, but was not as involved as he usually is.7/10 14 Cornal Hendricks:Pacey and strong, but like Mvovo would have liked more chances to run.7/10 13 JP Pietersen:Got himself into a lot of space and played well in a centres role, he is finding gaps with relative ease.8/10 12 Jan Serfontein:Made plenty of metres and was very abrasive in the contact, gave Weir some nightmares when he got a head of steam up.9/10 11 Lwazi Mvovo:Brilliant pace and support play, he would have liked to have seen some more ball in hand, but went looking for it with a great intercept try.8/10 10 Handré Pollard:Extremely confident running with ball in hand, his decision making was excellent and had great vision - only had eyes for tries.9/10 9 Fourie du Preez:Benefitted from quick ball and made all the right decisions in his short stay on the park.7/10 8 Duane Vermeulen:Showed an amazing amount of energy taking the ball up into the face of the Scots.8/10 7 Schalk Burger:Popped up everywhere, was extremely busy in the carries, tight phases and tackles - superb.9/10 6 Marcell Coetzee:Played his openside role brilliantly as well as getting involved in some carrying and try scoring.8/10 5 Victor Matfield (captain):Accurate in the line-out as always, mentored De Jager through his run on debut well and was work-man like in the defence. 7/10 4 Lodewyk de Jager:Confident in the line outs and a tower of strength in making over 16 tackles, his smile after his 40 metre try was something special - impressive day out for the young man.10/10 3 Jannie du Plessis:Did his job in the scrums but alo weighed in with some tackles and a few good runs.6/10 2 Bismarck du Plessis:Very abrasive in the tight stuff and was strong in the carries, but was not happy to make many passes.7/10 1 Coenie Oosthuizen:Deserves praise for his eight carries, but he struggled in his favoured position in the scrum.5/10 Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss: (on for B. Du Plessis, 54 min)Did a little bit of everything but did not have the same pressence as Bismarck du Plessis.6/10 17 Trevor Nyakane: (on for J. Du Plessis, 71 min)Not enough time to be rated. 18 Marcel van der Merwe: (on for Oosthuizen, 50 min)Enjoyed getting a few runs under his belt but did not sure up the scrum very much.6/10 19 Stephan Lewies: (on for Matfield, 71 min)Not enough time to be rated. 20 Teboho Mohoje: (on for Vermeulen, 66 min)Full of energy but should have tried to get more involved with such an open game.6/10 21 Francois Hougaard: (on for F. Du Preez, 28 min)Kept the intensity going but did not have the same vision as Du Preez.7/10 22 Marnitz Boshoff: (on for Pollard, 71 min)Not enough time to be rated. 23 Zane Kirchner: (on for Le Roux, 75 min)Not enough time to be rated.

 

Glad to see that Burger was rated so well. The real reason Kirchner was not rated was no one could recognize him with that buzz cut, lol

 Pretty good ratings I must say JW. Cant argue much.As I said before the match the backline, apart from Fourie, has a lot of zip. Fourie however is very quick thinking and creates for others.JP is definitely coming on at centre. That grubber of his was superb. Quite a lot of egg is flowing in the direction of oaks who dismissed JP as acenter. Ou maaaikie for one. Only two weaknesses were evident. The scrum and at lock where Etzebeth must replace victor.I personally would have liked to see Van Der Merwe start at tighthead to see how he goes. It appears we might need another back up loosehead. Also great pity Reinach and Faf were overlooked. 

 Who gets the award for egg on face?

 JW
The prize for most egg in the face goes to the undisputed winner - MOZART
 By the way - I was also fooled by Kirchner - his wild hair g one - he looks more like a rugby player than before - but still is not a rugby player.