Player Ratings

15.Willie Le Roux (5) 14.JP Pietersen (7)13.Jesse Kriel (3)12.Damian De Allende (8)11.Bryan Habana (8)10.Handre Pollard (8)09.Fourie Du Preez (9)08.Duane Vermeulen (8)07.Schalk Burger (7)06.Francois Louw (6)05.Lood De Jager (3)04.Eben Etzebeth (9)03.Frans Malherbe (7)02.Bismarck Du Plessis (8)01.Tendai Mtawarira (5)
R.Adrian Strauss (8)R.Pieter Steph Du Toit (6)R.Trevor Nyakane (7)R.Patrick Lambie (3)R.Jan Serfontein (7)R.Willem Alberts (6)
MOM: Fourie Du Preez. Game management was flawless.
Special Mentions
Damian made several very strong carries. Made crucial turnovers, had a brilliant kick nearly setup JP. Was not a problem on defence with the gang tackling off the Boks. Could be his breakout game. 
Lood was totally ineffective carrying the ball up and twice drop balls in Wales' red zone unpressured. As I said before, he has clumsy hands. He was mostly invisible and totally overshadowed by Eben. Not a patch on Victor.
Kriel was also totally ineffective, mostly invisible. Serfontein's strength was far more useful and looked more elusive.
Duane finally looks back to his old self, had a monster game. Looked quick, mobile, and powerful, handing off the Welsh with ease.
Bismarck looked back to the player who dominated in the latter half of the Super XV. Also handed off the Welsh easily, very powerful and put his body on the line to the extreme. Strauss was also highly effective and really stretched the Welsh, putting them under severe pressure with his carries and missile defence off the mark.  
Pollard smashed his way through Wales all day, had three iffy kicks but his overall game was absolutely world class. Lambie looked very ordinary in his place, getting knocked about and his pop gun boot put us under pressure. 

Good to see you give credit to DDA when deserved Fox, there's not too much I'd change in your ratings, although I think 3 is very low for Lood. Maybe a 5/6, he wasn't at his best but not as bad as a 3. 
Duane came up with the moment of magic when we needed, Thor's looking back to his best.
What's up with Willie? Hopefully he shows up in the semis, we need him if we plan to win this thing.

 Agreed mostly...here are a few changes I would make:

15.Willie Le Roux (5)

14.JP Pietersen (7)13.Jesse Kriel (3)......>412.Damian De Allende(8) ......> 611.Bryan Habana (8)10.Handre Pollard (8)09.Fourie Du Preez (9)08.Duane Vermeulen (8)07.Schalk Burger (7)06.Francois Louw (6)......> 705.Lood De Jager (3).....>404.Eben Etzebeth (9).....>703.Frans Malherbe (7).....>602.Bismarck Du Plessis (8)01.Tendai Mtawarira (5)
R.Adrian Strauss (8)R.Pieter Steph Du Toit (6).....>3R.Trevor Nyakane (7)R.Patrick Lambie (3)R.Jan Serfontein (7)R.Willem Alberts (6)

I was considering Louw a 7, but can't edit my post. Was also considering bumping Burger to 8, but I'm overall happy with that. A 4 for Steph seems fair, I obviously didn't catch his missed tackles. I stand by that 3 for Kriel though, am very disappointed with him, but for defence, maybe a couple of points higher. I thought Eben's physicality was huge today, very intense! Yet what about that egg for the Lood groupies? I really thought he'd have fronted up physically, afterall, that's primarily what he is about. He was dominated by Wales. Victor has played many very tough games against Wales, some tougher then that, and didn't play anywhere near as bad. Damian did much better than I expected. Nothing flashy, but he did do the hard yards and two turnovers which were very timely in diffusing dangerous Welsh forays into our red zone. He m ade other opportunistic contributions. Maybe a 7 more than an 8. 

Maybe I'm a bit harsh on Allende, fair enough. Thing is he has the physical assets...maybe Eddie will give him the vision. Keiel is desperately uncertain...he really needed a season of S15, but the Bools clung on to JJ. Louw did some good things today...as did Vermeulen obviously. 
When we told  the barking dogs Lomp had to prove himself against better opposition, it was shouted down. But today he looked like Durban Lomp....very uncertain with the ball by the second half.

The best backline players yesterday was Du Preez and De Allende.   The other backline assessments are not out of line - although to give Kriel a 3 is very harsh.   His stats does not reflect anything like a game assessment of 3:-
 Kriel0/001/1/43812004/00/000/0 More like a 6 it seems to me.
There was not much difference between the performances of Etzebeth and De Jager yesterday - other than a line out steal by De Jager being a positive.  I would rate both as 6.
Mozart is just trying to prevent too much eggs in his face insofar as De Allende is concerned.  The fool wrote before the game that Roberts will destroy De Allende and that did not happen.  The fool will never learn.  
 



   

Lood was stopped in his tracks and protected the ball poorly. Blew two excellent try scoring opportunities. Eben was powerful in both attack and defence. 
Kriel had an open field run in the second half, aside from that I saw nothing.
The halfbacks were the difference in the backs yesterday. FDP directed the team perfectly and attacked the fringes ferociously. Pollard was very direct and got over the gainline on every carry into swarms of defenders. 
The centres really were nothing in terms of creating anything though, but Damian did make some good contributions at the breakdown, equal to JP in that regard. Our big physical wings were another positive. 

 Harsh on Kriel! He never saw the ball, it mostly went straight to the forwards, and when it did go to Pollard, he ran it himself . When it eventually did get past Pollard then De Allende took it up. Very hard for a 13 to make an impact without the ball. His defence was not bad. He could have looked for more work, but I'd still give him at least 5. As for Lood, i have said he looked good recently, but I swore at him plenty last night. 

 Funny how when a Bok 10 runs it the argument is that the backs see no ball. But when Morne dustributes and gets the backs outside the edge it is lambasted, what do you people want? Lol!! Just listen to Fox and everything will be alright.

DF I assume that post was aimed at me, please find a post where I lambasted Morne's distribution?

 So you recognize Morne's distribution feeds our backs and puts them in good positions? If so, you get an honorary fix tail. Wear it proudly! 

 Morne near that team yesterday and another loss was on the cards - remember Perth ast year.   Similar type of game - similar loss with the active help of Morne.
  

Michael that wasn't even close to being a similar kind of game. Australia defended and attacked differently and the Boks are playing differently as well. In Perth we allowed Aus to stretch out our defenders by aligning wide and then attacking spaces between defenders. They went for the space between 10 and 12,  primarily aiming to pull them in and put runners into that space. Wales are more direct and far more physical. Australia defended more passively. Wales rushed up quickly and cut off the outside channels. However, as evidenced by the previous tests Morné played them, he can get long passes that free up attackers on the outside edge and that puts considerable stress on the Welsh defensive system. So you are wrong on all counts Michael. Oh so wrong. 

 Anyone who rates a player a 3 after being on the field for less than 5 minutes cannot be taken seriously.
Personal bias and hatred for a player regardless of what that  player does, makes a poster lose all credibility.

When all of a player's contributions were failures what do they deserve Mance? 0? That would certainly make my 3 very generous!
Fennec welcome aboard, you seem to be very familiar with the group. I take it you are of the vulpine folk atop Africa? My kind of people. 

 Mancie....not rating a player doesn't have to be hatred. I have nothing personal against any of the players on my television screen . But I do despise the process that leaves us with Stephanie as a possible starter on Saturday when he is so obviously out of his depth. Silly, sentimental thinking, with a pinch of bad luck may blow up our whole campaign. Flip should always have gone ahead of Stephanie.

 Mozart, I agree wholeheartedly with your comment about Flip. Pettiness kept him out of the squad.
Desert Fox, how is a player supposed to do anything meaningful in 5 minutes? Yet you give Pollard an 8 rating despite a shocking tactical kicking display. Morne  Steyn must have been killing himself laughing.

 mance nobody played well....rubbish game pattern from meyer

Nobody played well? 
You must have been one of those fair weather fans in 2007 when the Boks won the WC. One of the same wretched people that were baying for Jake's blood, but had the lack of conscience to join the party when the team won it all. You are not a fan. Any real fan would have been proud of that result, a win in the toughest fought game at the WC thus far.

vnot a fan ??? comes from a bloke that says south africa is a backwords country.....does the saying the kettle calling the pot black come to mind hey ????
mate stop trying to fish for things that dont exist and please do try to stay on topic. it seems your finding nemo like attention span is a massive problem.
i dont see the relevance of your comment but as per usual you like to read you own comments...reflects once again your narcissistic traits

 ps if you did your research by john smit's own account eddie jones was the real mastermind of the boks massive turnaround but as i have stated in my previous post let me not shatter your class house fantasy with facts hey....
denial is not only just a river in egypt....your backstroking in it

Why have my two modest posts been removed? They weren't of much value, and I don't necessarily want them reinstated - but I would like to know why two comparatively inoffensive posts have been removed, when so much bile and vitriol on this forum has been allowed to remain!  

 I missed that Fennec. Maybe ask Ed (mod). I know there was nothing malicious in any of them. Not an altogether common thing for posts to disappear.