All Blacks Player Ratings vs Springboks: Third Test, FNB Stadium

15. Damian McKenzie

Took a mark on 3 and raked the touch-finder on 43 that put New Zealand five metres out, then linked out the back of the sweeping moves that troubled South Africa in the first half. Stepped Pieter-Steph du Toit in a tight space on 73 and ran into a wall of green anyway. Converted Taukei’aho’s try on 80. His 80th Test, and his running game never quite arrived.

14. Will Jordan

Ran past about six defenders from his own 22 on 7 in what looked like a nothing play, broke again on 9, and won the breakdown penalty on 32 close to his own line. Scored on 55 from his own grubber and Carter’s offload. Then kicked the ball dead on 63, and the scrum that came back became the Marx maul that decided it. Four turnovers on RugbyPass’s count, and still the best New Zealander on the field by a distance. His 60th Test.

13. Quinn Tupaea

Pinged on 3 for the high shot on Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu that could have been more than a penalty, then rushed up on Jesse Kriel to slow the Springboks midfield down. Led the haka, carried hard, and was off for treatment on 43 with a leg injury.

12. Jordie Barrett

Forced the goal-line dropout with the kick on 13, made the offload on 24 that created a break, and put Ethan Hooker on his back at 28:25 with the tackle of the half. Finished with 11 carries and a game-high 14 tackles on RugbyPass’s count. Until Anton Lienert-Brown arrived he was the midfield, and he was the clearest All Black defender on the night.

11. Leroy Carter

Made two tries: the break on 27 that produced Savea’s second, and the regather and improvised offload on 55 for Jordan. Gave two away: fended off by Damian de Allende for Arendse’s try on 21, and beaten again when Kriel came at him from 22 metres on 57 for the try that took the lead. Three missed tackles by half-time, the most on the field on RugbyPass’s count, after Dave Rennie had picked him over Josh Moorby on defence. Two tries created against the Springboks in Soweto should not leave a wing down with the front row, and yet ten points went through his channel from one missed tackle each. The 5 is the performance. The site defended him a week ago and would again. Dave Rennie defended him too, and named the structure that put him in the centre channel.

10. Ruben Love

Kicked one conversion from three and missed a penalty on 52, seven points in a Test lost by five, with the second conversion attempt drawing boos from the crowd. Sent to the bin on 35 at the ruck a metre from his own line, and the penalty try came from the next scrum with him off. Sparked the counter for Savea’s second and kicked to touch well early, but the mark is the tee.

9. Cam Roigard

Had to throw the ball away under a shove at the first scrum of the night, then broke the line on 24 in the lead-up to Savea’s second try. Box-kicked well into a stiff wind, and ended the half in a wrestle with Cobus Reinach that handed New Zealand a penalty on halfway after the penalty try. Off on 67.

1. George Bower

Said the first scrum in Soweto would do the talking, and it did: New Zealand’s feed, and Roigard had to get rid of the ball under a shove. Steadied it enough to win a free-kick on the stroke of half-time, but by then he had been part of the eight that went backwards from their own line for the penalty try on 36. Off on 45 after the first scrum of the second half went against New Zealand.

2. Asafo Aumua

Started because Codie Taylor was dropped for the lineout, and hit seven of eight in the first half, the one loss the steal on 20 that became a Springboks try inside a minute. Carried explosively in the first quarter and threw the lineout Savea scored from on 10. Lost the ball forward in the Springboks 22 on 35, went alone off a stalled maul on 44, and was off on 60 with nine carries. The scrum was the problem, not the throwing.

3. Tyrel Lomax

Was sent backwards by Ox Nché on 36 for the penalty try, and Nika Amashukeli did not need a second look. Penalised on 18 at the Springboks maul, which gave South Africa a five-metre lineout. Off on 45 without having influenced the contest.

4. Tupou Vaa’i

Knocked on the goal-line dropout on 13, spilled Manie Libbok’s contestable kick on 14, and watched the Springboks scrum that followed win the 14:34 penalty. The lineout New Zealand lost on 20 became Arendse’s try inside a minute. Better after the break, with six tackles and six carries on RugbyPass’s count, in his 50th Test.

5. Sam Darry

Picked ahead of Fabian Holland, and the broadcast found him once: the charge into the Springboks 22 on 25, isolated, and Hooker on the ball before help arrived. Workmanlike in the first 40, unseen in the second, and off on 60.

6. Peter Lakai

Won the first turnover of the night on 4, low over Ruan Nortjé inside his own 22 with the Springboks’ first attack building, and was the man unmarked outside Feinberg-Mngomezulu on 9 when the ball was knocked down. Nine carries in 80 minutes on RugbyPass’s count, and the All Blacks’ most reliable route over the gainline.

7. Luke Jacobson

Took the captaincy when Savea went off on 31, and took the post-match interview too. Stopped Jasper Wiese dead on 16, combined with Lakai in the 10th-minute move that produced the yellow card, and kept his breakdown clean after naming the fix for his Cape Town clean-out penalty in the week. His 30th Test. “The Springboks came out in the second half and played their game,” he told SuperSport. “We allowed them to.”

16. Samisoni Taukei’aho

Came on for Aumua on 60, his first involvement of the series, and was on the field for the maul that went 20 metres on 65. Scored from a pick-and-go on 80 after the hooter, when it changed only the margin.

17. Xavier Numia

Came on at 45 with Newell to fix a scrum that had just produced a penalty try, and was penalised at his first one on 50 after the referee had already called “use it”.

18. Fletcher Newell

Came on at 45, was penalised at the scrum on 65 that Libbok kicked to the corner for the maul try, and was offside on 73 when New Zealand needed the ball back. Two penalties in eight minutes.

19. Fabian Holland

Came on for Darry on 60 after starting in Cape Town and taking a 7.5 there. Came in from the side at the breakdown on 70, in front of the posts, and Feinberg-Mngomezulu took it to 29-17.

20. Wallace Sititi

Entered on 31 for Savea, so 49 minutes in the hardest slot on the field. Carried into the Springboks 22 on 33 and 34, ripped the ball from Feinberg-Mngomezulu on 42, intercepted on 43, and made the late break on 80 that set up the last try. Much improved on his tour so far.

21. Kyle Preston

Replaced Roigard on 67. Thirteen minutes of quick ball and nothing the broadcast caught beyond it. After a 7.5 for nine minutes in Cape Town, nothing is the honest review.

22. Anton Lienert-Brown

Came on for Tupaea on 43. Missed a tackle on Libbok and made up for it with the steal on him on 77, New Zealand’s last turnover of the night, though the clearing kick from it did not find touch. His 93rd Test, and the third Test running he has come off the bench.

23. Josh Moorby

Used, after Cape Town on the bench. The broadcast did not show the minute he came on; he was on by 70. Spilled a pass on 70 and was hauled down by Morné van den Berg on 80 with the line in sight.