The Ou Grote player ratings for the Springboks versus Fiji in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal won 37 – 20 by the Boks.
01. Os du Randt – 6
The old man scrummed well and contributed at ruck time. No huge hits but a solid performance during his 50 minutes on the field.
02. John Smit – 6
Barney did a good job in the scrumming and lineout departments and was rewarded for his work around the park with his fourth international try. His captaincy was patchy however. Luckily he managed to pull the Boks together at the end after a below-par team performance in the first 60 minutes.
03. Jannie du Plessis – 6
Straight off the plane onto the field, the burly doctor didn’t disappoint in his first start for the Boks. Scrummed well, put in some good tackles and generally had a solid game.
04. Bakkies Botha – 7
A good performance from Baksteen – looked menacing in the loose and on the drive. Lineouts were solid and he was strong on defence.
05. Victor Matfield – 6
Not a standout performance by the big unit, but he still managed to control the lineout and popped up around the park with some good support play.
06. Schalk Burger – 6
The usual commitment from Schalla but he was a bit inaccurate at times particularly with his handling at the base of the scrum and a few missed tackles.
07. Juan Smith – 8
Official Man of the Match Smith has emerged as one of the stars of the Bok campaign and he continued his good tournament form on Sunday. Great ball-carrying, strong defence, a great lineout display and another try to cap a fine performance.
08. Danie Rossouw – 5
Not a commanding performance by Rossouw who looked a bit out of sorts following his return from injury. The strong ball-carrying we’ve come to expect from the Daniesaur was absent.
09. Fourie du Preez – 5
A shocker from du Preez in all departments. His poor decision-making and kicking display was particularly worrying considering the dominance of the Bok pack. Hopefully he has had his one bad game of the tournament.
10. Butch James – 6
Some booming touch-finders from Butch were just about his only contribution to the game. Erratic service from du Preez didn’t help matters, but the Bok flyhalf was unusually quiet.
11. Bryan Habana – 5
Another Bok player who was strangely off his game, Habanero was at least looking for work around the park.
12. Frans Steyn – 5
A poor performance by the youngster with his inexperience coming to the fore in trying to take the Fijians on at their own game. Too many 50-50 passes and poor kicking. Although he was one of the only players to create go-forward ball with some strong runs, his final pass was inevitably scrappy.
13. Jaque Fourie – 7
After a run of very quiet games for the Boks, Mossie eventually came to the party with a solid performance. Looked dangerous and was rewarded with a try in the corner.
14. JP Pietersen – 7
Greatly improved performance by Pietersen – he seems to be maturing with every game. Scored a try and, even more crucially in the context of the match, produced a try-saving tackle on Fijian lock Raqawa.
15. Percy Montgomery – 6
Lacked concentration and missed a few easy kicks early on. Improved towards the end with some good kicking out of hand.
Du Preez’ bad showing had a knock-on effect for the rest of the backline who never really got going.