Houwig's ratings

Andries Coetzee: 6 Made up in pure commitment, throughout, what he continues to come up short for in X-factor. Some nice advances in limited space. One hoist went well too deep, and his missed touch led to an unusually extended, fatiguing passage of play after the siren for half-time. Dillyn Leyds: 5.5 Not as prominent as he was on starting debut against Australia last week. Lost a ball forward, and had some positional angst at times, but also won at least two aerial one-on-ones. Jesse Kriel: 6.5 Made some of the most critical, properly “stopping” tackles when the Boks were hard-pressed deep in their own territory, including a try-saver on muscular Rieko Ioane, right on the line. Jan Serfontein: 7 Still looks “down” a bit more than “up” in attacking moves, but overall this was a very satisfying match for the inside centre. Put his body on the line, often crashing the ball up, helped secure a maul hold-up and had his moments of real skill and elusiveness in wider areas. Courtnall Skosan: 6 Has enduring drawbacks, but lacked nothing in heart and effort in this Test. Made a key tackle on slippery Beauden Barrett, and his firm but legal hit on Nehe Milner-Skudder led to the dangerous All Black’s exit with a shoulder/upper arm injury. Elton Jantjies: 5 Sometimes he just seems to get a bit “engulfed” in matches against quality outfits, and this was one of them, by my book. Some good touches, but his charged-down kick also led to a costly try concession. Still too deep-lying? Ross Cronje: 5.5 His intercepted pass, sadly, went a long way to tilting the tense encounter as powerhouse wing Ioane roared away for a long-range try roughly on the hour-mark. The scrumhalf mixed efficiency with frustratingly errant moments. Great first-half snipe, but then he failed to get a pass off with a try beckoning. Good composure in dotting his try on the base of the right upright. Francois Louw: 6 Not sure if No 8 will be revisited in his Test career; there were certain lapses in his defensive concentration, and handling. But also plenty of unsung, yeoman spadework at close quarters. Pieter-Steph du Toit: 7.5 Well, the No 5 lock has now started three Tests as a blindside flank and lost all three. But that’s a cruel fact to introduce, as he was largely excellent here. Won early penalty after a pick-and-go and that really set tone for his bone-crunching, stamina-laden display and great nuisance value at breakdowns. Siya Kolisi: 6 Began like a house on fire, with fierce cleaning-out and support runs. One magical back-of-hand pass in an attacking raid. Must bear some responsibility, perhaps, as open-sider for Boks surrendering some costly turnovers. Lood de Jager: 6.5 Still not quite matching up to his RWC 2015 prowess, but very positive signs of return to standards all the same. Honest shift, including admirably high tackle count. Eben Etzebeth: 8.5 Arguably his personal game of the season, and one that largely restored his credibility as an acting captain of the Boks, given how royally he led from the trenches. Made a series of freight-train charges, including bouncing burly Scott Barrett backwards once. Commanding at lineouts, into bargain. Ruan Dreyer: 5 Hindsight an easy science, but shouldn’t young Wilco Louw have started at No 3 instead? Once again, the Lions tighthead proved a penalty liability at scrum-time -- despite a couple of good ones as well, it must be said. Malcolm Marx: 9 Simply monstrous; the individual performance of the Bok season thus far. Would have been a shoe-in for player-of-match mantle had he been on the winning side. The Lions hooker rampaged from start to finish, driving forcefully (including for so-deserved try), doing muscular defensive duty and being deadly over the ball. Won two penalties. Steven Kitshoff: 7 This was his well overdue, maiden start in his 19th Test match … and the flame-haired loose-head duly delivered a consistently lively 77 minutes. Solid at set-piece, industrious elsewhere and one or two spirited carries that sucked in defenders. Won breakdown penalty, too. Standout substitute: Handre Pollard: 6.5 This was a close-run thing, because others off the splinters like Jean-Luc du Preez, Franco Mostert and debutant Wilco Louw also kept the Bok fire burning brightly. But the seemingly revitalised pivot, much-maligned earlier this season, brought welcome directness and some deft touches in the 18 minutes he got before disappearing down the tunnel late, apparently for a concussion-related evaluation. *Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing