All Blacks player ratings vs Springboks | The Rugby Championship
The All Blacks travelled to South Africa with one task on the agenda – righting the ship that had veered so seriously off-course in their two most recent matches with Ireland.
From the outset in Mbombela, however, the Springboks’ had the upper hand. Their first try came in just the eighth minute and they remained at least seven points clear of their opposition throughout the remainder of the game.
A late try to Shannon Frizell helped restore some respect to the scoreline for the All Blacks, which had ballooned out to 19-3 in the Springboks’ favour, but the home side managed to score with time effectively up on the clock, ultimately securing them a comfortable 26-10 victory.
How did the All Blacks rate in defeat?
1. George Bower – 4/10
Industrious on defence, topping the tackle chart for the All Blacks. Didn’t feature with ball in hand. Copped one penalty at scrumtime but otherwise appeared to have parity with his opposites. Off in 63rd minute.
2. Samisoni Taukei’aho – 7
The pick of the All Blacks. The All Blacks’ strongest carrier in the first half, typically taking two or three defenders to bring him to ground. Free-kicked at the first scrum but nailed all his lineouts in a high-pressure environment and generally justified his selection in the No 2 jersey. Off in 56th minute.
3. Angus Ta’avao – 3.5
Pinged at the first Springboks scrum and again late in the first half but got one back of his own right before the halftime break. Tried to get himself involved on attack with some short passes. Wasn’t quite the disaster some had predicted but didn’t exactly hold his own either. Off in 48th minute.
4. Sam Whitelock – 5.5
Tackled fiercely and was mighty at lineout time against some very good operators. No longer offers much with the ball in hand but the fact that New Zealand were able to retain their own ball at the lineout gave them some semblance of hope of putting up a fight when not a lot went their way.
5. Scott Barrett – 5
Won a good turnover when the Boks were attacking early in the second half. Otherwise carried strongly but like his teammates, struggled to assert himself against the more powerful Springboks forwards. Carried Off in 73rd minute.
6. Akira Ioane – 4.5
Made some good carries and hit rucks but his night will be remembered for that awful in-field pass that drifted well forward when the All Blacks were on the counter-attack. Off in 56th minute.
7. Sam Cane – 5
Made a great tackle on Malolm Marx to force a knock-on at halfway. Pinged once for going off his feet while attempting a steal. Generally struggled to offer much at breakdown time.
8. Ardie Savea – 6.5
Secured a defensive breakdown penalty when the Springboks were hot on attack inside the 22 and always looked to get the ball in his hands but couldn’t quite replicate his destructive feats from prior games. Threw a great short ball to Will Jordan to create a linebreak.
9. Aaron Smith – 5
Struggled to ignite his backline but had to deal with some turgid, sloppy ball. Off in 70th minute.
10. Beauden Barrett – 5.5
Regularly took on the line. Couldn’t take a high bomb early doors, with the Springboks pouncing on the error to score their first try of the match. Sparked a brilliant counter-attack from inside his own goal after managing to prevent a 50-22, with the All Blacks bringing the ball back to halfway. Taken off for an HIA in the final minutes after a terrible aerial challenge from Kurt-Lee Arendse.
11. Caleb Clarke – 5
Quiet in the first half but the ball came his way more in the second. Threw himself into half-gaps but was never quite able to break through the defence.
12. David Havili – 4
Couldn’t make any impact as a ball-carrier and struggled to create opportunities for the men outside him. Dropped one ball late when the All Blacks were starting to put some phases together, and South Africa almost managed to capitalise. Tackled stoutly but simply not the answer in the No 12 jersey.
13. Rieko Ioane – 4
Didn’t offer any incisiveness in the midfield but the ball rarely came his way. Off in 64th minute. Returned with time almost up in place of Beauden Barrett.
14. Will Jordan – 4
Kicked the ball out on the full with his first touch of the game – in the 42nd minute. Ran a great line off Savea – which seems to be becoming a specialty of the combo – to get the All Blacks out of trouble from deep inside their own half.
15. Jordie Barrett – 5.5
Made a great covering tackle on Makazole Mapimpi to prevent what looked a likely try in the first five minutes. Was taken out Sam Cane when he was going for a high ball and didn’t look right for the rest of his time on the field. Off in 53rd minute.
Reserves:
16. Dane Coles – 2
On in 56th minute. A horror run off the bench for the experienced head. Couldn’t find his target with his first lineout delivery and then knocked the ball on with his first carry. His third lineout throw also wasn’t straight. Stymied any attempts from the All Blacks at building momentum.
17. Ethan de Groot
On in 63rd minute.
18. Tyrel Lomax
On in 48th minute. Pinged immediately for illegal scrummaging but came right afterwards.
19. Tupou Vaa’i – N/A
On in 73rd minute.
20. Shannon Frizell – 4.5
On in 56th minute. Made one big tackle with his first act of the game and had a strong 10-second burst where he threw off a would-be tackle and then got up in support of Clarke’s run to grab a well-taken try. Moments later, dropped a ball and the Springboks kicked through to score the final blow of the game.
21. Finlay Christie – N/A
On in 70th minute.
22. Richie Mo’unga – 6.5
On in 53rd minute. Sniped a few gaps and looked full of vigour. One brilliant chasing tackle prevented a sure try. Nailed a sideline conversion to ensure the All Blacks didn’t fall to their worst-ever defeat at the hands of the Springboks.
23. Quinn Tupaea – 5
On in 64th minute. Entered the game in the centre role – the first time he’s played in the position for the All Blacks.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments