Springbok Player Ratings: Australia

A win. Ugly but I’ll take it. Did we see glimpses of AC’s plan coming together or was it falling back on our old game plan? Hunt penalties and don’t miss a kick?

Good to see a scrumhalf with fast, crisp service and a 10 that can dictate a game. General Steyn.

I think after this weekend, AC will rethink using the 6/2 split bench again. There is no reason to do it on the international stage.

@odinKuun is missing in action this week. He was last seen in Malmesbury… yes, you read right! The platteland might have swallowed him hole.

Let’s get to the part that we have all been waiting for, that is the expert* views of the Rugby panel we have here at The Pundits.

*The real experts were unavailable yet again so we have @JudgeRugby, @KeeganKruger and @hoerboer to fill in for them.

Here are the ratings:

Patrick Lambie:

KeeganKruger: 6/10 – When called upon, Pat always seems to always do a job and Saturday he did that very well.

JudgeRugby: 5/10 – not a great day, missed a few tackles and 1 or 2 bad kicks but did his job, missed Goosen on attack

Hoerboer: 6/10 – Wasn’t bad – he did the basics.

Bryan Habana:

KeeganKruger: 5/10 – I don’t think we are doing enough to get him involved in the game, He was starved of the ball as usual.

JudgeRugby: 5/10 – worked hard but had a bad day sadly.

Hoerboer: 5.2/10. Quiet test for the hard-working wing.

Jesse Kriel:

KeeganKruger: 4/10 – I can’t remember seeing him playing this Test, which is a bit of a shame.

JudgeRugby: 6/10 – Had an average day until injured, nothing spectacular, nothing poor

Hoerboer: 5/10 – Can’t remember hearing his name from the commentary.

Juan de Jongh:

KeeganKruger: 7/10 – I’ve loved his inclusion and Saturday he showed his worth on attack, needs to tighten up on defense though.

JudgeRugby: 8/10 – Very happy with his performance, solid on D, made 5 missed 1 and often drew 2 men and offloaded.

Hoerboer: 7/10 – Drew 2 defenders and got the pass out, creating the overlap – players outside him let him down.

Francois Hougaard:

KeeganKruger: 6/10 – When on the wing he was pretty  quiet but showed good energy. Thought he was great when moved to nine.

JudgeRugby: 6/10 – not a great day out wide but then again, he isn’t a wing, he must start at 9 this week.

Hoerboer: 6/10 – Showed good fight.

Morne Steyn:

KeeganKruger: 8/10 – The King of Loftus… We would have lost this game if he wasn’t at 10.

JudgeRugby: 7/10 – Good performance and dictated things but most importantly landed his kicks.

Hoerboer: 7.3/10 –  Mr Reliable.

Rudy Paige:

KeeganKruger: 7/10 – I loved the quick service and I thought his well-grounded game served us well.

JudgeRugby: 9/10 – Did a great job, we didn’t need flashy we needed a worker and we got that.

Hoerboer: 6.8/10 – Fast service and tactically better than Faf, let’s be honest.

Warren Whiteley:

KeeganKruger: 7/10 –Sometimes I wondered if he was on the field, but then I saw his defensive stats and then made me shut my mouth.

JudgeRugby: 8 – got through a mountain of work, still don’t think he is being used correctly but he had a great day out.

Hoerboer: 6.9/10 – 13 Tackles not one missed. Why didn’t he move to wing? Has the 7’s experience to do it.

Oupa Mohoje:

KeeganKruger: 6/10 – I don’t really have an opinion on him or Flo, but they both did a job.

JudgeRugby: 7 – Machine on the day.

Hoerboer: 7.2/10 –  Dominated the collisions.

Francois Louw:

KeeganKruger: 6/10 – Many have said it’s the best game of the year for Flo, I just wish I actually saw the same thing.

JudgeRugby: 6/10 – great seeing him back to his near best, 2 missed tackles though

Hoerboer: 7.6/10 – That’s more the Flo we remember.

Pieter-Steph du Toit:

KeeganKruger: 5/10 – this isn’t the PSDT I know… He will want to forget this test quickly.

JudgeRugby: 5/10 – Same as Etzebeth.

Hoerboer: 5/10 – Quieter than he usually is. Nursing a niggle perhaps?

Eben Etzebeth:

KeeganKruger: 7/10 – dominant in the collision and the lineout.

JudgeRugby: 5/10 – quiet day but decent work where it mattered

Hoerboer: 6.5/10 – Dominated the lineouts.

Vincent Koch:

KeeganKruger: 5/10 – Sadly for Koch he was shown up in the scrums yet again and it could cost him a place against the All Blacks.

JudgeRugby: 5/10 – Tackled well and offered plenty in open play, just not at scrum time.

Hoerboer: 5.6/10 – Tackled well but got owned in the scrums.

Adrian Strauss:

KeeganKruger: 7/10 – This man has gotten a lot of flack the past few weeks, but he rocked up on the weekend and was his old self.

JudgeRugby:  7/10 – best performance as captain, could be in areas to tackle more, though.

Hoerboer: 7.7/10 – Lead by example

Beast Mtawarira:

KeeganKruger: 7/10 – I thought it was the Beast’s best game of the year and he was great at scrum time.

JudgeRugby: 7/10 – solid from the big guy and carried well. BEEAAAAASSSSST!!

Hoerboer: 5.5/10 – Scrummed well.