Team of the Week: Rugby Championship Round 3
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The third round of the Rugby Championship threw up a few surprises with the Argentines leading the All Blacks at half time and the Wallabies and Springboks playing out to a 23 all draw.
This made picking the team of the weekend quite difficult in some positions and in others there were clear stand out performers
1. Joe Moody
The All Black no.1 was helped off the field in the 70th minute but he was superb when he was on the field. He dominated Nahuel Tetaz at scrum time and racked up 41 running metres and a cheeky clean break.
2. Agustin Creevy
The Los Pumas captain was exceptional against the All Blacks and did the old cliche of leading from the front. The busy hooker made 6 tackles, carried the ball 15 times and made 59 metres.
3. Coenie Oosthuizen
A true warrior Oosthuizen made his way off the field with an injury, which he later found out was a broken arm, he returned as a blood replacement and made 3 tackles before finishing the game.
He finished the with 16 tackles and was solid in the scrum throughout the match.
4. Luke Romano
A rare start for Romano and the Crusaders man took his opportunity with both hands. He was fantastic at the set pieces and did the All Blacks dirty work before being subbed off in the 52nd minute.
5. Pieter-Steph du Toit
Du Toit got his first start of the year after some impressive showings off the bench in the last 5 tests. He continued his fine form making 57 metres from his 4 carries, made 6 tackles and beat 3 defenders.
6. Vaea Fifita
Ahead of the clash Steve Hanson was saying he was going to "unleash the beast" against Argentina and the Hurricanes flanker did not disappoint making 113 metres from his 10 carries.
He beat 11 tacklers, got 3 clean breaks and scored 1 try. A truly fantastic performance for your first Test start and probably the player of the weekend.
7. Jaco Kriel
Another fantastic performance by the South African, Kriel made 15 tackles and despite only receiving the ball on twice he was able to make 23 metres and collected 2 clean breaks.
8. Benjamin Macome
It's not an easy task for any player to go head to head against one of the best no.8s the world but that is exactly what Benjamin Macome did. He carried the ball exceptionally well, made 7 tackles and offloaded the ball twice.
9. TJ Perenara
A rare start for TJ and the feisty halfback took full advantage of his opportunity, picking up 2 try assists and average just shy of a pass a minute.
10. Nicolas Sanchez
Sanchez became only the 4th player to score a try, drop goal, pen and conversion against the All Blacks (in one match) and the Argentine playmaker did it all inside the first 40 minutes of the match.
A masterful performance by Sanchez as was involved everything the Pumas did well and finished the match with 16 points.
11. Reece Hodge
After numerous cameos off the bench for the Wallabies, Hodge was finally given his opportunity in the lime light and the Rebels superstar did not disappoint.
He was defensively sound and collected 3 clean breaks.
12. Kurtley Beale
A mercurial performance by the Australian inside centre as he terrorised the Springboks defence with his outstanding skill and speed. He was even on hand to step his way through the Springbok defence to score before the half hour mark.
13. Anton Lienert-Brown
It's hard to believe that he is only 22! Lienert-Brown was defensively solid and got his name on the score sheet with a difficult finish.
14. Nehe Milner-Skudder
The ankle breaking stepper made his return to the international stage for the first time since 2015 and he did not waste time announcing himself again scoring a try within 10 minutes of kick off.
The speedster gained 74 metres, beat 5 defenders and collected 3 clean breaks.
15. Israel Folau
Another great performance for the Waratahs fullback in the gold jersey. He was secure as every under the high ball and made 96 running metres.
