Bok Ratings vs Argentina-

1 Tendai Mtawarira - 5/10 -  Average at best, missing in action at worst.

2 Malcolm Marx-   6.5/10- Not a good game. Started ok, but faded as the game went on. Little to no impact at the breakdown

3 Frans Malherbe - 2/10  Why, Why, Why is this person starting?  The scrum improved as he left. His belly flopping fat gut stumbles are not required.

4 Eben Etzebeth -  4/10 Little to no impact apart from some early handbag stuff

5 Franco Mostert -  6/10.5 - Tried hard. 

6 Francois Louw -  3/10-  He seemed very prominent in missed tackles of the first line that led to tries. Worse than the Stephanie& Ben Young Fiasco a few years ago.

7 Siya Kolisi (captain) -  7/10- Started well, but it is worry that he has no impact on the breakdown for a small player.

8 Warren Whiteley -  6.5/10. A tireless workhorse, even if his impact was not massively significant. Lots of tackles, no impact at the breakdown.

9 Faf de Klerk - 5.5/10 Starting to look a bit overplayed- we have no back up in this position.

10 Handre Pollard -  6/10- average

12 Andre Esterhuizen -  5.5/10 - Average, is he fast enough on defence for test rugby

13 Lukhanyo Am -  5/10 A poor pass that buggered up a simple try. Also missing on defence.

14 Mapoe 4.5/10 - Pimpi Injured early. Mapoe went missing on defence. His wing was a gaping hole on defence.

15 Willie le Roux - 7/10 The playmaker that created tries. A one mand band on defence out wide.

11. Dyanti- 5/10- His worst test to date. Carried like a handbag in the tackle, and showed limited understanding of the rules of rugby by standing up without placing the ball.

Subs-

Kitshoff. 6/10- An improvement from Beast, scrum started to get better. 

Steph Dutoit- 8/10- High work rate, reminiscent of a younger Schalk.

Damien Willemse- 6.5/10 - Looked more comfortable. It was a bit confusing as Pollard moved to 12- but often lined up as the second receiver.

Key Issues

A. Defence. 

1. The 1st line of the defence is vulnerable when going wide with quick draw and pass. 
   
2. The counterattack is also very effective when the Bok defence line has not formed.
   
3. There is no cover defence is non-existent. 
4. There were also some individual defensive errors that put the team under pressure. Francious Louw seemed involved in many of the individual errors, where he left a big gap between the ruck and defensive line.

I can't understand 7 for wee Willie he missed tackles and made judgement errors. Could be a case of a player trying to create stuff when the rest of the team were not into it. This would be the most charitable thing to say.

Commiserations to your boys and congrats to the wee Argies .

So that saffa coach who said the ABs might be lucky to be 3rd is looking a bit omelette faced eh ?Which squeazer was that ?

Here are the rating by Rugby 365

Jan de Koning rates the South African players!

15 Willie le Roux:

He looked scared, almost like a player trying to avoid injury. He missed more tackles than he made and threw some hospital and forward passes.

3/10

14 Makazole Mapimpi:

Left the field after 11 minutes with an injury. Not enough time to be rated.

13 Lukhanyo Am:

Got exposed on defence and conceded a silly penalty. He looks to have lost his confidence.

4/10

12 André Esterhuizen:

Big on defence, with some strong runs. However, his hands let him down and he was one-dimensional on attack.

5/10

11 Aphiwe Dyantyi:

He had some good runs, but was again exposed on defence and also made poor decisions.

5/10

10 Handré Pollard:

His worst performance in the Bok jersey. His goal-kicking remains a concern. Despite some decent passing and taking the ball to the line on occasion, he conceded a silly penalty and was largely ineffective.

3/10

9 Francois de Klerk:

Another player who was a liability. His box kicks were not as accurate as they should have been and while he worked hard on defence at times, he missed more tackles than he made.

4/10

8 Warren Whiteley:

One of his best games in a Bok jersey. Some great cover play and provided support out wide. There were plenty of strong carries and great linking play out wide. He also seemed to be doing a lot of the talking when things started to go pearshaped, was cleaning out at the breakdowns and made all his tackles.

7/10

7 Siya Kolisi (captain):

Started off with a great run for the opening try, followed by another charge downfield. However, his form took a massive dip – was caught out on defence and isolated on another occasion, conceding a penalty metres from the Bok line.

5/10

6 Francois Louw:

He simply missed too many one-on-one tackles. Also broke away from scrums early, leaving his team vulnerable at set pieces. Looked better when he moved to No.8 late in the second half.

4/10

5 Franco Mostert:

He was again involved in everything – on defence, carrying the ball, jumping in the line-outs, cleaning at the rucks. He was visibly tiring in the second half from the massive workload.

6/10

4 Eben Etzebeth:

Showed some nice soft hands early on, but his game quickly went south. Following his yellow card in the 25th minute, he allowed the Argentinean players’ niggling tactics to get to him.

4/10

3 Frans Malherbe:

His scrumming was poor and his workrate unacceptable. He was visibly tired early in the second half and should have been subbed long before the hour mark.

4/10

2 Malcolm Marx:

He made plenty of carries, but was not as effective as usual. His defence was below par and he will be criticized for the line-out losses, but that would be a disservice to the Argentinean locks.

6/10

1 Tendai Mtawarira:

Struggled in the scrums and only made a handful of tackles. Was strangely quiet and only carried the ball once. Looked tired.

4/10

Replacements:

16 Mbongeni Mbonambi (on for Marx, 72nd min):

Not enough time to be rated.

17 Steven Kitshoff (on for Mtawarira, 43rd min):

Worked hard and scrummed powerfully, but made too many mistakes – including knock-ons and conceding penalties.

5/10

18 Wilco Louw (on for Malherbe, 63rd min):

Made a big difference in the scrums and made all his tackles. Also impressive at the breakdown.

6/10

19 Rudolph Snyman (on for Whiteley, 53rd min for blood; then subbed Mostert when Whiteley returned):

His impact was minimal – his carries ineffective and made just one effective tackle.

5/10

20 Pieter-Steph du Toit (on for Etzebeth, 47th min):

He had an amazing workrate after he came on – carries, defence (although he missed two) and cleaning out.

7/10

21 Embrose Papier:

Not used.

22 Lionel Mapoe (replaced Mapimpi, 11th min):

Used the rare opportunity for some serious game time with an impressive display on attack and a solid defensive display.

6/10

23 Damian Willemse (on for Esterhuizen, 63rd min):

Looked determined to make an impression, but was over-eager at times. Did make a couple of impressive runs.

6/10

@rugby365com

Rugby 365 ratings look about right to me, Willie was bad, Whiteley was good, Marx was good, etc. Incidentally PSDT was rated 7 which may upset the wigged one on this site Louw was rated 4. 

I thought the Faf's rating of 4 was a little low, same with Pollard's 3.

ESPN Stats for this game

I think NZ Herald and ESPN both draw their stats from Opta. I can't find the Herald stats anymore either. They had a better layout.

The Sky Sports commentators broke down the tries of the first half- and Louw did a Stephanie/Ben Young by standing too far from the ruck leaving a gaping hole.

They didn't perhaps mention Creevy, his eyes not leaving Mostert, who casually walked right past the ruck, directly obstructing the latter who would have had that area covered otherwise?

I sometimes wonder how people rate players.   Looking at all the excuses  one has to think that something went serious amiss in the backline - every player had white line fever and even after the best line breaks the ball went dead.   The result was a degree of ball hogging and ineffectiveness that would always lose matches.

The test yesterday reminded me very much of the third test against England.   A mess at best. Erasmus better get his selections right in the rest of the series - further experimenting will lead to disaster. 

I am afraid neither Louw nor Whiteley is the answer as loosies - neither is the center combination of Esterhuizen and Am the best we have or can use..  

The normal BS from Mozart.   He saw what happened in the first test and said for soe stupid reason or another it was not the same when he attacked Du Toit.

An what did Mostert do yesterday?   In the first test Du Toit made 19 tackles and missed 1,   In the test yesterday Mostert made 5 tackles and missed 2.   For the rest hew as nowhere as well.

Live with it Mozart - it is likely that all of Whiteley, Mostert and Louw will not start in the remaining RC tests.   Piss poor - especially Louw and Mostert.    

The normal BS from Mozart.   He saw what happened in the first test and said for soe stupid reason or another it was not the same when he attacked Du Toit.

An what did Mostert do yesterday?   In the first test Du Toit made 19 tackles and missed 1,   In the test yesterday Mostert made 5 tackles and missed 2.   For the rest hew as nowhere as well.

Live with it Mozart - it is likely that all of Whiteley, Mostert and Louw will not start in the remaining RC tests.   Piss poor - especially Louw and Mostert.