Player ratings: Back to earth with a bang
After a promising start it all went south in dramatic fashion for the Springboks, as they lost 0-57 – a record margin for the Springboks against all comers.
It is worse far worse, than last year's 15-57 capitulation against the All Blacks in Durban and also much worse than the previous biggest margin – a 0-49 humiliating defeat to Australia in 2006.
The Boks simply made too many errors and display a blatant lack of basic skills. They were also far too passive on defence.
Jan de Koning rates the South African players!
15 Andries Coetzee:
He looked threatening with ball in hand and solid in the last line of defence. But his kicking out of hand needs some work.
5/10
14 Raymond Rhule:
Shockingly poor defence. No commitment and often ran around like a headless chicken.
4/10
13 Jesse Kriel:
Early knock-on and then a penalty soon afterwards. Worked hard, but his poor positional play left massive holes on defence.
4/10
12 Jan Serfontein:
Very few chances with ball in hand and missed more than 30 percent of his tackle attempts.
3/10
11 Courtnall Skosan:
Looked out of his depth and did not complete a single tackle.
3/10
10 Elton Jantjies:
His goal-kicking remains an issue, but his general play was of an acceptable level – despite the poor service he got from his scrumhalf.
5/10
9 Francois Hougaard:
His basic skills let him down and his service was just not crisp enough. Also aimlessly kicked away turnovers.
4/10
8 Uzair Cassiem:
Early line-out steal, worked hard on defence and had a couple of half-decent runs.
5/10
7 Jean-Luc du Preez:
Threw intercept pass and did not play very good heads-up rugby. After that his game deteriorated alarmingly and seemed tom lose interest.
4.10
6 Siya Kolisi:
Reduced to a defensive role, as it appeared few of his teammates were interested.
6/10
5 Franco Mostert:
He looked like a player who needs a proper break – poor workrate and missing tackles.
4/10
4 Eben Etzebeth (captain):
Not much captaincy to speak of. Failed to lift his team when it started to go wrong. The team certainly looked leaderless.
4/10
3 Ruan Dreyer:
Won early scrum dominance, but went downhill as the game moved. His workrate was poor.
3/10
2 Malcolm Marx:
First line-out overthrown and then several other wobbly throws. Won a couple of penalty turnovers and was a monster with ball in hand, but his basics were just not good enough.
5/10
1 Tendai Mtawarira:
A couple of half-beasts early on, but disappeared after that.
4/10
Replacements:
16 Bongi Mbonambi (on for Marx, 58th min):
His line-out throwing was not much better than that of Marx. And that was the only time you saw him.
4/10
17 Steven Kitshoff (on for Mtawarira, 45th min):
Certainly some decent hits on defence, but struggled in the scrums.
5/10
18 Trevor Nyakane (in for Dryer, 55th min):
Penalised in almost every scrum. Just not strong enough for Test level.
4/10
19 Lodewyk de Jager (on for Moster, 45th min):
The epitome of a headless chicken. Lots of energy and movement, but very little of it effective.
4/10
20 Pieter-Steph du Toit (on for Du Preez, 52nd min):
When you carry the ball four times and make just two metres, the 'impact' is NOT in favour of tour team. Also missed half his tackle attempts.
3/10
21 Rudy Paige (on for Hougaard, 59th min):
While he was not always clinical, he at least brought some energy. Should have started, as his basics is at least a bit better.
5/10
22 Handré Pollard (on for Jantjies, 58th min):
Got brushed off all too easy on defence. His confidence looks to be low … oh, wait, that is the entire Bok team.
4/10
23 Damian de Allende (on for Serfontein, 70th min):
Not enough time to be rated.
By Jan de Koning
@king365ed
@rugby365com
