They leveled the series and that's the bottom line, so first and foremost well done Boks. Now to the nitty gritty.
It wasn't the best quality rugby, and in the end the Lions got sucked into the Boks game, and with that they let go of this test. A lot of 50/50 calls went the way of the Boks, to the extent that I hardly recall the Lions getting a single call in the final 20 minutes. Malherbe flopping in the scrum was fortuitously unchecked.
The first half was surprising for me as the Boks struggled to get over the advantage line at all. Wiese was markedly weaker in contact than Kwagga and overwhelmingly less intelligent. For the first 60 there were really only three effective Boks: Pollard, Mapimpi and Kwagga. The Marx steal at the breakdown and the Lood lineout steal were big moments.
Overall it came down to kicking. The Lions, who move the ball much better, feel into the Bok's game by kicking often when there were opportunities to test the Bok defence, especially given that they were more dominant in contract. A tactical blunder by Gatland that lost the test.
Bok ratings:
- Kitshoff (5.8)
- Mbonambi (6.0)
- Malherbe (5.5)
- Etzebeth (5.0)
- Mostert (6.0 )
- Kolisi (6.0)
- Du Toit (5.0)
- Wiese (4.0)
- de Klerk (5.8)
- Pollard (7.0)
- Mapimpi (7.5)
- De Allende (5.0)
- Am (6.0)
- Kolbe (4.5)
- Willie (5.5)
