Boks Player ratings - Proud performance; Rugby 365

The Springboks came agonisingly close to toppling the No.1 team in the world, losing by a mere four points. but it is a performance the Boks can be proud of. The two teams went toe-to-toe through the full 80 minutes, scoring a try a piece on either side of half-time but in the end it was probably the All Blacks decision making that won them the tussle. The Springboks will be happy to have gained plenty of positives out of the game, especially in discovering the true class of some of their younger stars. The Springboks, on captain Jean de Villiers 100th cap, will be disappointed to lose, but will never the less be proud of their best performance of the Championship so far. We rate the Springboks 15 Willie le RouxBit of a sloppy performance with his hands but still devastating with his runs, the definition of an up and down game, but it is his experimental style that leads to that.5/10 14 Cornal HendricksExcellent finishing and general running in open play beating defenders at will like a true Sevens specialists.7/10 13 Jan SerfonteinPut in plenty of tackles to sure up that dangerous outside centre berth, a great stop on McCaw who was inches from the line.8/10 12 Jean de Villiers (captain)Nothing to flashy from the centurion captain but was brilliant on defence and hard-nosed and direct in attack.7/10 11 Bryan HabanaLooked busy, wanting to get involved in everything which lead to a number of typical Habana runs circa 2007.7/10 10 Handré PollardGreat kicking out of the hand and excellent vision for the Hendricks try, definitely did not disgrace himself under the enormous pressure - also saved a Savea try by hanging on with one hand.9/10 9 Ruan PienaarAn accomplished performance but nothing special, looked lazy from time to time before getting injured quite unluckily.6/10 8 Duane VermeulenAnother huge defensive effort from the abrasive forward added in his ball fetching skills to make it a all round performance as he carried the ball with aplomb.9/10 7 Marcell CoetzeeSome crucial steals, and seemed indispensable at times especially when he tops the tackle count alongside Matfield with 168/10 6 Francois LouwA very quite game cut short by an injury, made very few tackles for his standard and missed too many to boot.4/10 5 Victor MatfieldInvolved in plenty of the donkey work early on, pressured the line-out as expected and made more tackles than most of his comrades8/10 4 Eben EtzebethPut in some massive hits early on, and smashed the ruck area but his slipped a few tackles that he shouldn't have.6/10 3 Jannie du PlessisLooked very tired and out of form - didn't let down his side in the scrums but was a passenger in the loose play bar a few group tackles4/10 2 Adriaan StraussCannot underestimate his contribution to the successful line-out display, especially in comparison to Bismarck du Plessis7/10 1 Tendai MtawariraVery little to do other than to make his tackles and scrum which he did without fault, but had a terrible moment when he tried to flick the ball back5/10 Replacments: 16 Bismarck du Plessis (on for Strauss, 54 mins)Had a horrendous day throwing in the line-out and the scrum seem to stutter when he came on.1/10 17 Trevor Nyakane (on for Mtawarira, 66 mins)Continued the good scrumming performance from Mtawarira and got even more involved in the loose play.6/10 18 Marcel van der Merwe (on for J. Du Plessis, 77 mins)Crucial scrum win in the dying minutes as he came on to the park that gave the Boks one last shot at victory.6/10 19 Lodewyk de Jager (on for Etzebeth, 70 mins) Did very little with his 10 minutes4/10 20 Warren Whiteley (on for Louw, 47 mins)Played his absolute heart out, getting involved where ever he could - and often where others would not.8/10 21 Francois Hougaard (on for Pienaar, 35 mins)Provided some good service for his backs but did not set the field on fire6/10 22 Pat Lambie (on for Le Roux 70 mins)No enough chance to be rated. 23 Damian de AllendeNot used.

Some high ratings. Pollard 9 out of 10. Another high rating for Matfield.  
Bismarck got 1 out of 10. Must he something wrong with him physically, mentally or both. Shame as he is the worlds best when in form.

My ratings would be:

15. Le Roux - too many errors. 5/10

14. Hendricks - good try and early run, then faded as the Boks switched to a kicking game - 6/10

13. Serfontein - again made many tackles, didn't get much opportunities on attack - 7/10

12. De Villiers - good work disrupting the All Black backline, but missed some tackles and didn't achieve much on attack 6/10

11. Habana - poor reading of play with the McCaw try, some good runs, conceded a silly penalty which cost the Boks three points 5/10

10. Pollard - played a fine game, sound tactical kicking, lovely orchestration of Hendricks' try. Sidelined in the second half as Hougaard dictated play 8/10

9. Pienaar - his best half of rugby this season despite a few early errors 7/10

9 . Hougaard - poor tactical kicking, slow decision making, broke the Boks rhythm 4/10

8. Vermeulen - again one of the standouts, always involved with good effect 8/10

7. Coetzee - made tackle after tackle, some turnovers and stood tall everywhere he got involved 8/10

6. Louw - his weakest performance this season, just never got out of the blocks 4/10

5. Matfield - dominated the lineouts, made tackles and seemed well involved in the breakdowns 7/10

4. Etzebeth - decent performance but never dominated his opposite number. Yet to regain the dominant form of his first test season 6/10

3. Du Plessis - started well but faded as the game went on, some solid scrumming early on 6/10

2. Strauss - his value was demonstrated again when the lineouts went south after his departure. Strong game overall 7/10

1. Beast - solid in the scrum, but no longer the force in general play he was a few seasons ago 6/10

 I am afraid I do not share the enthusiasm about Matfield.  He ran out of steam - gave away penalties - lost two line out throws and is to weak to be of major impact in the Tight  5.   No ball carries.  he won two line out turnovers - but his tackling  is not really an impact in the game.  Nothing more than 5 out of 10 in my book.
hen having two attacking line outs fuive emters out we need strength in th line outs for the driving maul.   Matfield fuddled one ball and the other one we could not get over the line - if we had a proper lock - we could h have scored then.   

 Looks about right , but ya gotta stop thinking theres so many positives in losing .Its getting so other sides think a close loss is OK .Its not OK for the ABs it just p!sses em off .

 Even a close win p!sses of the ABs wardad, lol

Well you can't mark players who played well down just because the team lost. My ratings would have been the same had we scored a last minute try to win.

 Dont get me wrong pakie ,as I said about your ratings  its about right but you cant keep thinking that a close loss is good enough .As JW said the ABs get annoyed with a close win !

No problem Wardad. It's definitely not alright and I explained some of my frustrations with certain elements of our play in another thread. Hansen said it after the match, the ABs somehow find a way to win these close games. We find a way against the likes of Argentina and Wales, but still get unstuck against Aus and NZ.

Beast and Jannie - fin ein scrums in fists half but tired rapidly in second. Both were poor outside the scrums.4/10 at best.Matfiled took some lineout ball in first half and some tackles of a sort.  Was very poor in second half. 4/10
Louiw was quiet - was he hurt early on but on performance 5/10.
Pienaar was better in this game but still failed to attack and kicked aimlessly. 5/10
Hogaard. Kicked so much ball away and did zip 3/10
Willie needed to attack space more. 5/10.
It is crystal clear matfiled must go. Reinach into scrummie. Allende on the right wing May be an option with Hendricks coming on with fresh legs with say 25 minutes to go?Nyankane and Marcell van der merwe scrummed the abs into the ground. Are they worthy of a start? Give Beast and Jannie 25 minutes?
Is it now time to go for broke with the younger players?
However is the coach tellin g Hougaard etc to just kick the ball away?
Far to many unforced errors and stupid kicks gifted the wee abs huge amounts of possession and territory. In the second half they slowly got in right until being rampant in the last quarter.
Man the wee abs then took a pounding Bwahahhahahahahaha 

What an idiot Hogaard was to go blind. We need a class scrummie as a partner for the world's best flyhalf to be if not already. Reinach should be given a chance. He might just revolutinise things. Far superior athlete to Aaron Smith for example. Invest in him now.

This pap ab side shouldn't be coming close to the Boks. Meyer please wake up!! It's so annoying to lose to such a mediocre bunch. England B were better than them!!

 @Mr. beeno,
as always not giving credit where it's due and showing a huge lack of respect. Pure hooligan.
why don't you switch to soccer?

"the world's best flyhalf to be if not already"

WTF are you talking about? already best fly half? one good game, not even very good or outstanding, just good, and best fly half in the world? you are the bias world champion.

 Your take on Hougaard is a load of absolute shit Pakie

 D ave
Too be quite frank - Hogard today was worse than Pienaar - his kicking game was  appalling and his service ws not much better.   I frankly was noit impressed.

 Well beandork if the ABs are so useless whats that make your boys ? 

Bullshit mike there was nothing wrong with his service this just sounds like your usual prejudicial shit you keep banging on about moz and his predictable take on players you are no better.