Springbok Player Ratings: Australia

The state of our national side is a bit a worrying in South Africa and with the new Springbok management suffering their third defeat in six games in charge, many are asking where do we go from here!

Adriaan Strauss’ side may be second on the overall Rugby Championship log, but the rugby has been nothing we have been used to and sadly the performance against the Aussies didn’t leave us with much to talk about.

Here is our player ratings for the game:

Tendai Mtwarira – Rating: 5.5

@KeeganKruger: Unfortunately he didn’t have the game we all expected him to have, scrummed well though.

@JudgeRugby: solid-ish display

@OdinKuun: In a game where your senior players need to step up, he was anonymous.

Adriaan Strauss – Rating: 6

@KeeganKruger: Didn’t have a bad game, but captaincy-wise he isn’t influential enough. 

@JudgeRugby: Better outing than we have seen, scrum and line-outs were good, intercepts a gamble that paid off.

@OdinKuun: Probably his best performance as cappie but still not nearly good enough.

Lourens Adriaanse – Rating: 5

@KeeganKruger: Looked very much like Vincent Koch in his very first game… Lost, in other words!

@JudgeRugby: Quietly went about his work, work-rate so so but good-ish at scrum time

@OdinKuun: He looked lost, even scared…

Eben Etzebeth  – Rating: 6.5

@KeeganKruger: Oh Eben… He was his good old self on the park, but he could have saved the yellow for his 51^st game.

@JudgeRugby: 10 tackles, no misses, decent performance

@OdinKuun: Yellow on his 50th, fitting! Strong as always

Lood de Jager – Rating: 5

@KeeganKruger: Injury killed his game early, but he covered the park and made lots of tackles.

@JudgeRugby: Not on form for me and not our best 5 at the moment, didn’t let the team down, though.

@OdinKuun: Strong in the tackle (as usual) but an ankle injury ended his game prematurely

Francois Louw – Rating: 4

@KeeganKruger: His time is surely up now, AC? Was another game we didn’t really recognise Flo.

@JudgeRugby: Made a number of errors and I thought he was poor at the break-down.

@OdinKuun: Below average…. yet again! drop or bench but we can’t go on like this…

Oupa Mohoje – Rating: 5

@KeeganKruger: Made metres on the park, but didn’t get to the breakdowns quick enough.

@JudgeRugby: Not a bad outing but we needed more from our loose trio as a whole.

@OdinKuun: Did he play?

Warren Whiteley – Rating: 6

@KeeganKruger: Warren tried, but sometimes tried a little too hard and it turned into forced errors.

@JudgeRugby: 8 tackles, no misses, ruck-ball security an issue.

@OdinKuun: Game was too tight for him to run and create, a bit worrying…

Faf de Klerk – Rating: 4

@KeeganKruger: It was probably his worst game in a Bok jersey…

@JudgeRugby: Had a poor day, many errors and again, biggest attribute is his defence

@OdinKuun: Over-eager at times (bietjie los-kop) and with your 10 being kak we need our 9 to keep his head!

Elton Jantjies – Rating: 5

@KeeganKruger: Wonderful franchise player, but not international quality and his kick for posts shows it.

@JudgeRugby: Good day for him and his backline, crucial missed tackle and poor kicks but better showing

@OdinKuun: Simply don’t trust him at 10! Gaan huis toe, Elton

Francois Hougaard – Rating: 6

@KeeganKruger: I can’t say he was awful, but he didn’t get enough ball to have an impact.

@JudgeRugby: Out of position and personally should start at 9 but a great effort that brought some vooma

@OdinKuun: He was ok for a player who hasn’t played internationally (15s) for a while

Juan de Jongh – Rating: 7

@KeeganKruger: It’s so nice to have a 12 that passes and tackles. I thought he was one of our best players.

@JudgeRugby: Missed 1 tackle but was solid all round, carries and distributes. Helped EJ and JK on D I feel

@OdinKuun: A breath of fresh air!

Jesse Kriel – Rating: 7

@KeeganKruger: I thought he did well on defence, but would like to see him with ball in hand more.

@JudgeRugby: 10 tackles no misses, great effort on the day, limited chances

@OdinKuun: He was present…

Bryan Habana – Rating: 6

@KeeganKruger: I expect a lot more from Bryan when he is starved of the ball, but he too had a game to forget.

@JudgeRugby: Always involved and does look for plenty of work

@OdinKuun: Didn’t go and look for work like he usually would if he isn’t getting the ball.

Johan Goosen – Rating: 6

@KeeganKruger: Can we please see the Goosen that plays in France? We haven’t seen a glimpse of that quite yet.

@JudgeRugby: Solid at the back, few wayward kicks but good on attack and defence. Still best 15 option in squad

@OdinKuun: A few moments with ball in hand, but too much kicking

Replacements

Bongi Mbonambi – Rating: 6

Steven Kitshoff – Not enough time

Trevor Nyakane – Not enough time

Franco Mostert – Rating: 5

Pieter-Steph du Toit – Rating: 5

Jaco Kriel – Rating: 5

Morne Steyn – Rating: 5

Lionel Mapoe – Not enough time