Player ratings: Clueless
Not only did they suffer their worst defeat in history to the All Blacks – a 15-57 loss in Durban on Saturday – but they looked clueless for the entire 80 minutes.
If your game plan is to only tackle and kick penalties, you should not expect to win too many games.
Jan de Koning rates the South African players!
15 Pat Lambie:
Far too many of his decisions should have been different and his execution been better. Not a game he would like to remember.
5/10
14 Francois Hougaard:
Struggle on defence against Waisake Naholo and showed only brief bursts of energy .
5/10
13 Juan de Jongh:
Missed too many tackles and rushed out of the defensive line to leave gaps. He got exposed badly by a quality attack.
3/10
12 Damian de Allende:
Was, for most part, good on defence and shut down a number of attacking threats. However, he hogged the ball in open play .
4/10
11 Bryan Habana:
His execution was poor – even kicked ball directly into touch with a one-on-one situation – and his defence was not up to par either.
4/10
10 Morné Steyn:
Struggled with accuracy in the wind conditions, especially from restarts and out of hand. Also, between him and Juan de Jongh the All Blacks had plenty of free metres as a result of poor defence.
3/10
9 Francois de Klerk:
Brave on defence, showed great heart and a better kicking game. However, his decision-making remains a problem and gave away a couple of penalties.
5/10
8 Warren Whiteley:
Was not flawless, but worked his heart out on defence and bar one made the most tackles on the field.
6/10
7 Teboho Mohoje:
Making 10 tackles will suggest he had a great game, but it was the rest of his game that lacked – such as allowing the ball to bounce and handing over possession.
5/10
6 Francois Louw:
Lasted just 12 minutes before departing with an injury. Not enough time to be rated.
5 Pieter-Steph du Toit:
Missed too many tackles, although his workrate on defence was right up there. Rest of his game needs to improve.
5/10
4 Eben Etzebeth:
Not a surprise that we was replaced early in the second half – looked tired and out of sorts. Did not carry the ball once and made only a handful of tackles.
4/10
3 Vincent Koch:
His work outside the set pieces was shocking and his defence was also not up to par.
3/10
2 Adriaan Strauss (captain):
Silly play early on that cost his team and made mistakes on defence. Maybe he should step aside now. One decent game a year does not justify him leading the team on the year-end tour.
3/10
1 Tendai Mtawarira:
One decent run, in which he got over the advantage line, and just a handful of tackles. Was solid in the scrums.
5/10
Replacements:
16 Bongi Mbonambi (on for Strauss, 74th minute):
Not enough time to be rated.
17 Steven Kitshoff (on for Mtawarira, 51st minute):
Did not make a single successful tackle in his half-hour on the field. His workrate in other aspects was also not of an acceptable standard.
3/10
18 Julian Redelinghuys (on for Koch, 46th minute):
Made all his tackles and worked exceptionally hard off the ball. Solid in the scrums.
6/10
19 Lood de Jager (on for Etzebeth, 46th minute):
Made just one tackle, had a couple of ineffective carries and ended up leaving his one man short (when he was yellow carded for a needless shoulder charge) in the last 10 minutes.
2/10
20 Willem Alberts (on for Mohoje, 46th minute):
Was meant to bring a physical edge, but failed to get over the advantage line once in six runs. Made some good hits on defence, but also missed a couple of tackles.
4/10
21 Jaco Kriel (on for Louw, 12th minute):
Showed that he should be given a start, since he played virtually the entire game. Was not perfect, but made the most tackles of any player in the game and worked exceptionally hard off the ball.
7/10
22 Lionel Mapoe (on for De Klerk, 68th minute):
Did not make a single successful tackle and no impact in any other way.
0/10
23 Willie le Roux (on for Steyn, 64th minute):
One great break, but two other crabby, cross-field runs that yielded no success.
4/10
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