Player Ratings – Boks v All Blacks

Bok player ratings versus New Zealand in the opening game of the 2008 Tri Nations in Wellington.

Ratings from across the web:
[TABLE=76]
Ricky Januarie (7.4) is the Man of the Match for the Boks.

http://sarugbyview.blogspot.com/2008/07/tale-of-two-halves.html

Ratings

Conrad Jantjies – 8
A very good performance from South Africa’s form fullback. Solid under the high ball and good on the counter.

Odwa Ndugane – 6
Solid generally, but bounced out of three tackles close to his line. Needs to drive into the tackle with lower body position.

Adrian Jacobs – 7
Under huge pressure to prove his coach right going into the match. Set up the Bok try. Solid in defence.

Jean De Villiers – 6
Should have been made captain when Smit went off. Solid and committed in the tackle. Great run to put Habana away. Also drove forward in the tackle making valuable metres on attack.

Bryan Habana – 6
Covered well around the park and scored a good try. Seldom put into space but was not really the weather for his kind of rugby.

Butch James – 5
Strangely off. Needed to control the game but never looked confident. Coughed a lot and looked sick.

Ricky Januarie – 9
Outstanding. Under pressure on our own ball, was always there to clear before conceding a turnover. Courageous tackling. Controlled aggression.

Joe Van Niekerk – 7
Grafting role required in the weather which he played well. The scrum never dominated resulting in a lack of a platform for his usual pick-ups from the back.

Juan Smith – 6
Solid grafting role. Vintage blindside play in the first half where he was required to play the hard yards.

Schalk Burger – 7
Unbelievable to consider he has had 20 minutes of game time since knee ligament damage. Huge tackles and workrate. Cleared rucks and led the forward charge.

Victor Matfield – 3
Very poor. Complete lack of commitment. Possibly because he was denied a starring role in the lineouts early on by All Black tactics. But you have to question him not getting into first gear given the importance of the match.

Bakkies Botha – 8
Wow. Tireless work rate at the rucks, controlled aggression, got around the park in support. Fantastic.

CJ Van Der Linde – 5
Suffered in the scrums. Left with an apparent injury. Things actually looked like they improved when Mujati came on.

John Smit – 7
Hugely valuable as a captain, scrummager and in the tight loose. His loss to injury is extremely worrying and robbed the Boks of direction in the game.

Gurthro Steenkamp – 6
Good workrate around the park and improved in the scrums as the game went on.

Replacements

Percival Montgomery – 6
Showed his experience in putting a kick for position into touch downfield when nothing else was on. We needed his tactical appreciation throughout the second half.

Brian Mujati – 6
Did very well considering doubts over his ability to stand up to the All Black front row. Looked like he improved the scrum when Van Der Linde went off.

Francois Steyn – 5
Almost pulled off a 65m drop. But the charge down of his kick from his line showed his mercurial nature. He has never looked as good as when he played inside centre at the World Cup. It seemed this allowed him to play a role where less decision-making pressure was required and he had the support of experience on his inside and outside. Given how Jacobs played, he needs to re-establish himself as a first choice in the squad – and the coaches need to agree his role is at 12.

Luke Watson – 5
Not the game for Watson – weather and match position didn’t suit his style.

Bismarck Du Plessis – 6
Started very poorly and got in the way of good attack ball in the backs. Gradually improved and affected a few turnovers.

Andries Bekker, Bolla Conradie
Not enough game to comment.

Coaching staff – 5
Got the second half completely wrong – but were disrupted by losing Smit.