Rugby 365 - Springbok Ratings

The ratings for the various players as provided on the Rugby 365 site are as follows:- 15 Willie le Roux Mistake ridden game but straightened the line beautifully in the first try for JJ Engelbrecht. His swift touch is what the team needs and is appreciated as he grows into the no.15 jersey. 6/10 14 Bryan Habana Was not as influential as last week but was not given many opportunities. He is always looking for work and asking questions of defenses. 6.5/10 13 JJ Engelbrecht Did not have a lot of opportunities to showcase his skill-set but he did manage to get over for a try. Made his tackles and it was a solid second Test match. 6/10 12 Jean de Villiers (captain) Ran hard at the defence and did the basics well but also didn't offer anything special. Lead the side well and was the calming influence when the game could have taken a turn for the worse. 5/10 11 Bjorn Basson Also had very few chances but was always up for the kick-chase and worked hard off the ball. Made a great tackle to deny Scotland a try early in the game. 6.5/10 10 Morné Steyn Never got the side going forward and fell off a couple of tackles. Kicked from hand a lot but did not seem to control the game at flyhalf. Bailed out on a high ball that summed up his game. 4/10 9 Ruan Pienaar Was very slow to get the ball out of the ruck and allowed the Scots to get their defence lined up. A few misdirected kicks from the base. Gets the 'yips' whenever he puts on the Bok jersey. 4/10 8 Pierre Spies Ineffective in the carry although he tried to give his side the momentum. Seemed to battle to get himself into the game and it is still surprising that he maintains the No.8 jersey. 4/10 7 Arno Botha Was only on the field for four minutes before he went off with what looked like a serious knee injury. Not enough time to be rated. 6 Marcell Coetzee Carried the ball well and when he shifted to the blindside he seemed to go back to the game that got him the Springbok call-up in the first place. 6.5/10 5 Juandré Kruger Another forward that was AWOL during a lot of the game. Won his line-outs but really did not contribute in the loose. 4/10 4 Eben Etzebeth Always going to put in a massive effort and was all over the park. Showed that he has matured when provoked by Jim Hamilton. Growing with every game. 6/10 3 Jannie du Plessis Scrummed hard but was lazy around the field and got away with a number of illegal infringements at the ruck. Came in the side to numerous occasions at the ruck. 4/10 2 Adriaan Strauss Won a good penalty for the Boks and was solid around the field. Line-out throwing was not at his accurate best but was solid in the loose. Was not his usually composed self. 5/10 1 Tendai Mtawarira Was industrious but lacked precision in open play. Scrummed well but was responsible for a penalty for hinging at the scrum. Was a little disappointing but will always give 100%. 5/10 Although I agree in the main wit the ratings - there are ome differences between what actually happen on th field of play and the points assigned. The following in particular is where I differ:- Willie le Roux He was the one player in the backline that showed drive and initiative and was instrumental in the try scored by Engelbrecht. I would rate him as 7/10 JJ Engelbrecht He missed 3 of 5 attempted tackles and was primarily out of the defensive line when the Scots scored their one try. My rating is 4.5/10 Bjorn Basson The rating is based on really nothing at all - just so-called follow-up of kicks where the end result was of zero benefit to the team. He was at best 4/10 Spies His performance was best illustrated by a line-out throw aimed at him - where he failed to jump at all and the Scots consequently got possession of the ball. The best I can give him is 3/10 - possibly 2/10 Coetzee His impact on the game was minimal. He gave away penalties and played virtually no role in recovering of balls at breakdowns. His ball carrying was also ineffective . Best I can give is 4/10 - possibly 3/10 Kruger Did nothing of any value. Best potential rating 3/10 possibly 2/10 On the site Kolisi is rated as 8/10. There are to my mind 3 major functions of loosies - namely ball carrying, defence and breakdown play. If each "section" is allocated points for on the above basis Kolisi would sore 3 points for each of the first two functions and nothing for the third one. His rating should be 6/10 - which is an accurate assessment for him. He was by far the best loosie of the Springboks on the day - but the other two were so bad - it made him look good. The other bench players were not rated because they were not on the fild of play long enough - ie an average of 10 minutes per player. I do not think that that is really fair. The scrum got largely stabilized when Oosthuizen and Nkanya came on and Bismarck did recover a ball in breakdown situation. Lambie did convert a penalty and a try conversion and Serfontein scored a try - largely an individual effort - following a very good pass by Van Zyl direly to him. My ratings under the circumstances are as foolows:- Serfontein - 7/10 Lambie - 6/10 Van Zyl - 5,5/10 Van der Merwe - 5/10 Oosthuizen - 6/10 Nkayane - 6/10 Meyer should reconsider seriously the inclusion of he following players in the starting line-up- Basson, Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Spies, Coetzee, Kruger and Jannie Du Plessis. 5 of he above were repeat failures and Steyn and Pienaar was showing signs of being back to their atrocious form in 2012. I would say they should be replaced as follows:- Basson - moving Engelbrecht to the wing and select Serfontein at center. Morne Steyn - Patrick Lambie Ruan Pienaar - Piet van Zyl Spies - Draft in Philip van der Walt into th squad Botha - Labuschagne - must more effective all-round player. Coetzee - Louw Kruger - Move Etzebeth to 5 and replace the latter with Van der Merwe. Jannie Du Plessis - Oosthuizen. After this week effort I would put Kolisi on the bench ahead of Coetzee - bearing in mind that both are ineffective at breakdowns.

sport24. ratings

   

Willie le Roux: 6
Up and down this week, like so many colleagues. Fumbled a high ball, and might have been more assertive in some tackles. But also absolute gem of an offload for JJ Engelbrecht’s try and other moments of mini-trickery.

Bryan Habana: 6
Unlike last week’s so explosive showing against Italy, few opportunities came the veteran’s way this time. Did nothing notably wrong, though.

JJ Engelbrecht: 5.5
Give him his due: much better second half as Boks clawed back to seize initiative. But pretty scratchy first period, with some missed tackles and one fatal rush out of his defensive line near own posts which led to Scottish try.

Jean de Villiers: 6
The Duracell Bunny of SA rugby again this year: somehow just keeps going despite chronic over-playing. Best Bok back defensively in their problematic first half, though did lose some steam near finish.

Bjorn Basson: 6.5
Like co-wing Habana, precious little chance to get a head of steam, but customarily at ease in kick-chase aspects -- and made one particularly alert, try-saving tackle.

Morne Steyn: 5.5
Oops, a bit of the retreat to indecisive, timid and too predictable habits of last year. Also missed easy penalty kick by his standards. Should relish next week’s return to beloved Loftus ... or will Pat Lambie get a run now instead?

Ruan Pienaar: 5.5
So many caps, yet still so many lurking reservations. Service reasonable enough, considering gross lack of protection around rucks, but no more than that. Perhaps at fault as space sometimes opened up too easily for Scottish snipers around fringes? 

Pierre Spies: 5
For so experienced an international, another No 8 showing of frustratingly fitful input. Has been a favourite of coach Meyer for a long time; patience may be wearing thin.

Arno Botha: No rating
Lasted only four minutes before one of those freak, not-nice-to-watch knee injuries while slightly shifting his balance and not a Scottish hand even on him.  

Marcell Coetzee: 5.5
Always strives to be involved, but can become a bit “headless chicken” ... just too frenetic at times. But did confirm good engine with strong finish.  

Juandre Kruger: 5.5
Pace in open play came to the fore sporadically, but not nearly assertive enough in the boiler room against the oft-cynical Scots -- and far from his best lineout match.

Eben Etzebeth: 7
The one Bok line-out forward to meet standards; some fine takes at the front. Also outdid several tight-five allies for work-rate and robustness. Just about kept cool, too, when blatantly provoked by second-row rival Jim Hamilton, who was yellow-carded for his flat-hand-to-the-face indiscretion.

Jannie du Plessis: 5.5
A fraction better than against Italy, I felt, as anchor of scrum that at least held its own this week. But still a long way off his A-game.

Adriaan Strauss: 5.5
Has to be given unusually lowly score for him because of some key errors, like missing some lineouts, delaying one throw enough to be penalised, and getting in the way of a drive by team-mate Coetzee. But did help light the belated Bok bounce-back fire with fierce general play, it must be said.

Tendai Mtawarira: 5
Sorry, it’s time for a sit-out now for the “Beast” to see if it has the desired effect in restoring best personal levels. Steady enough at the set-piece, though gave away a penalty there and didn’t smash into enough rucks or make great yardage with ball under arm. 

Substitutes:
Siya Kolisi: 7.5
Suddenly thrown into battle with barely time to touch his toes, yet composure and confidence so quickly to the fore. Fantastic physicality, plenty of tackles, and purposeful ball-carries ... including one memorable, weaving surge in the last quarter.

*No other Bok replacements got more than 12 full minutes, not long enough to be comprehensively gauged, although Coenie Oosthuizen, Bismarck du Plessis and Jan Serfontein busied themselves encouragingly swiftly.

Those Sport 24 rankings are excellent. I would only differ on the Beast and Kolisi. Kolisi had a good game and made some decent runs. But I can't say I saw the physicality at the breakdown. As for the Beast, he has drawn Castrogiovanni and Euan Murray in successive weeks....there are no tougher scrumming props. I thought he did fine yesterday.

 

 

 

Shezza Sorry - I differ from you here. The match stats for Kolisi is as follows (from ESPN):- (F) Kolisi 0/0 0 0/1/6 62 1 3 1 0 8/0 0/0 The stats in fact confirm there was no possession turnover - so I am afraid there is no bias here.

These Sport 24 ratings are plainly totally unrelated to the performance on the field of play as reflected in the comments itself. If a player under-performed it is no use giving points. Take for instance the comments on Morne Steyn:- "Oops, a bit of the retreat to indecisive, timid and too predictable habits of last year. Also missed easy penalty kick by his standards" How on earth can he then gets a pass-mark for his performance? Should be 4 or 4,5 at maximum. You can take virtually every rating and come up with the same deduction. Most of the ratings are between 1 and 2 points too high to even be remotely realistic and in line with the accompanying comments

Mike for that post I give you a 7.5

 

Would have been a 8.5 but you forgot to add a full stop