Springboks player ratings from the third Test at FNB Stadium, Saturday 5 September: South Africa 29-24 New Zealand, every score with its evidence.
Ethan Hooker knocked on twice in the first 13 minutes. He was named player of the match.
South Africa beat New Zealand 29-24 to lead Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry 2-1, from 12-12 at the break and 12-17 down on 56. The match report has how. These Springboks player ratings have who, and the joint-lowest mark goes to a man who kicked seven points.
Who’s your Springboks man of the match? Tell us below.
Springboks player ratings: the match in numbers
| South Africa | New Zealand | |
|---|---|---|
| Tries | 4 | 4 |
| Conversions | 2 | 2 |
| Penalty goals | 1 | 0 |
| Carries | 95 | 129 |
| Line breaks | 5 | 12 |
| Turnovers won | 6 | 6 |
| Tackles made / missed | 150 / 32 | 106 / 21 |
| Scrums fed | 5 | 11 |
| Lineouts won | 11 of 11 | 11 of 12 |
Carries, line breaks and turnovers from RugbyPass’s match summary. Tackles, scrums and lineouts from the Stan Sport full-time graphic.
15. Cheslin Kolbe — 7.5/10 (ten minutes)
Fielded the kick-off over his shoulder, spun and found touch with his weaker left foot, then swept up Will Jordan’s chip on seven after the wing had run past about six defenders. Made a second saving tackle in the ninth minute. Left on ten and failed his head injury assessment, so the mark is for ten minutes and says so. Everything he touched was clean.
14. Kurt-Lee Arendse — 8.5/10
Went over on 21 through the gap Damian de Allende made, then produced the tackle on Leroy Carter on 27 that would be remembered as try-saving had the ball not popped loose for Ardie Savea to fall on. Spilled one in the tramlines on 42 and tapped back Manie Libbok’s high kick on 78. Threatened every time the ball reached him early, which was not often enough after the break.
13. Jesse Kriel — 8/10
Knocked on twice, on 35 and 62, and still finishes with an 8, because the 22 metres on 58 decided the Test: Libbok’s pass, Carter beaten one-on-one, and the first Springboks lead of the night. Had already broken the line with Arendse in the build-up to the first try, and went through a gap from de Allende’s catch-and-release on 75.
12. Damian de Allende — 7.5/10
Fended and stepped past Carter to put Arendse in on 21, in his 102nd Test. Set the defensive tone with the tackle on Quinn Tupaea at 4:48 and finished with 11 tackles on RugbyPass’s count. Sent Kriel through a gap on 75 with a catch-and-release. Nothing came through his channel that the broadcast noticed.
11. Ethan Hooker — 9/10
Knocked on twice inside 13 minutes and was named player of the match anyway, which tells you about the 65 that followed. Got over Sam Darry on 25 with New Zealand inside the Springboks 22 and won the ball, picked off a pass on 39 and kicked ahead, and was underneath Jordan on 48 as the high ball came down. Chased every kick South Africa put up. RugbyPass marked him down for being drawn into the ruck when Carter broke for Jordan’s try, and that is the one hole in the 9. “If I feel like I feel after the game I know I’ve done my job,” he told SuperSport.
10. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu — 6.5/10
Binned at 9:20 for a deliberate knock-on ten metres from his own line with Peter Lakai unmarked outside him, and New Zealand scored seven while he watched. Came back on 20 and went to fullback, where he stayed, and missed the touchline conversion on 22. Then kicked two conversions and the penalty that made it 29-17, and hit Jordie Barrett on 73 so hard the stadium heard it. The mark is for the ninth minute. It sits below Libbok’s 7 because Libbok’s mistake cost a try and this one cost a try and ten minutes of the team. Harsh, and meant to be.
9. Cobus Reinach — 6.5/10
Rushed out of the line on 36, met Asafo Aumua on halfway and ripped the ball clean out of his hands, which started the passage that ended with Ruben Love in the bin and a penalty try. Then got into an off-the-ball wrestle with Cam Roigard while the penalty try was being awarded and gave New Zealand a penalty on halfway from the restart. Ponderous between those two moments, and off on 43. An 8.5 in Cape Town, above the whole pack, and a different night here.
Read also: why the Springboks scrum remains South Africa’s key Test advantage.
1. Ox Nché — 7.5/10
Took the pass around his laces from Jasper Wiese’s offload on 36 and carried to within a metre, then did the thing he is picked for: New Zealand’s feed, five metres out, and Nché went through Tyrel Lomax until eight men were going backwards and the referee walked under the posts. On top in every scrum before that too, as the front row Rassie Erasmus went back to was picked to be. Off on 63.
2. Malcolm Marx — 8.5/10
Did not lose a lineout on his throw, which after Cape Town was the first job. Got over the ball on 61 with New Zealand building inside the Springboks half and won the penalty that turned the last quarter, then steered a maul 20 metres and sideways from the back on 65 until he fell over the line. Off on 70, and the case for him above Hooker is at the bottom.
3. Wilco Louw — 7/10
Got the shove in on the first scrum after seven minutes, won the first scrum penalty of the night at 14:34, and was still there on 36 when the five-metre scrum went into the in-goal for the penalty try. Leaned in early on the stroke of half-time and gave up a free-kick, the one blemish. Off at 50:33 with the scrum count already settled.
4. Eben Etzebeth — 7/10
Ran a lineout that went 11 from 11 in his 145th Test. The mark stops at 7 because of the 30th minute: Pieter-Steph du Toit had found Kriel, the blindside was open, and Etzebeth left the ball on the floor trying to pick it up. One carry and five tackles on RugbyPass’s count before he went off, and nothing like the lineout menace of Cape Town.
5. Ruan Nortjé — 7/10
Isolated himself on 4 when Lakai got over him, then made up for it with 80 minutes and 12 tackles, the most of any Springboks player on RugbyPass’s count. His carry on 36 made New Zealand defend one more phase a metre out before Love went to the bin. Clean at the lineout throughout.
6. Siya Kolisi — 7/10
Picked and drove on 30 and 33 with South Africa near the New Zealand 22, and had 11 tackles when he went off on 63, level with Wiese at the top of the Springboks count at the time. Left before the lead was taken. His 55th Test win as captain, one more than John Smit. “The first 25 minutes the lungs were pumping hard,” he told SuperSport. “We did so well to make sure we didn’t concede more points.”
7. Pieter-Steph du Toit — 7.5/10
Hit the ball-carrier on 48 hard enough to force a spill, and the scrum that followed won a penalty. Made the tackle on 61 that let Marx get over the ball, then went up at the back of the lineout on 65 and brought the ball down for the maul. Took the captaincy when Kolisi went off, in his 101st Test.
8. Jasper Wiese — 8.5/10
Produced the carry of the night on 36: through a wall of black shirts and an offload to Nché around the laces, and 30 seconds later South Africa were a metre out with Love on his way to the bin. Led the Springboks for carries with nine when he left on 62, with 11 tackles and a turnover on RugbyPass’s count. The obstruction penalty on 19 cost a five-metre lineout, and it is the only mark against him.
Replacements
The bench had stopped winning the last quarter going in. From the hour it was South Africa ten, New Zealand seven.
16. Deon Fourie — 7/10
Came on at flank for Kolisi on 63, moved to hooker on 70 when Marx went off, and the lineout did not lose a throw with him at it. Thirty-nine years old, two positions, a 12-point lead to hold.
17. Gerhard Steenekamp — 7/10
Came on for Nché on 63 and won a scrum penalty of his own at the first attempt on 65, with Fletcher Newell the man pinged. Libbok kicked it to the corner and the maul try followed.
18. Thomas du Toit — 7/10
Replaced Louw at 50:33 and was penalised at his first scrum on 52 for stepping across, the only scrum penalty South Africa conceded all night. The next one, on 65, produced the penalty that led to Marx’s try.
19. Lood de Jager — 6.5/10
Came on for Etzebeth on 63. No penalty, no card, and nothing the broadcast caught. After the 79th-minute yellow card in Cape Town, quiet was the assignment.
20. André Esterhuizen — 6.5/10
Came on for Marx on 70, which sent Fourie to hooker and put Esterhuizen into a midfield holding a 12-point lead. Nothing came through his channel, which for ten minutes is the whole job.
21. Cameron Hanekom — 7.5/10
Replaced Wiese on 62 and produced the hit on 73, with New Zealand needing to move the ball, that broke the All Blacks’ shape. The offside penalty followed and Libbok kicked South Africa back into the New Zealand half.
22. Morné van den Berg — 7/10
Came on for Reinach on 43 and knocked on a lineout pass under no pressure on 52. Then kicked well into a wind that was against South Africa, including the touch-finder on 61 that set up the Marx steal, and ran back towards his own line on 80 to haul down Josh Moorby with the try line in sight.
23. Manie Libbok — 7/10
Called on after ten minutes at fly-half, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu moving to fullback once his sin bin was served. The clearance that missed touch on 26 handed New Zealand Savea’s second try, and it is in the mark. So is the rest: the break on 29, the stepping run to a metre out on 36, the long pass that put Kriel in on 58, and the touch-finders into the wind that turned penalties into position.
Springboks player ratings by WeTalkRugby from the live broadcast. Official series page: allblacks.com. Results: every fixture and result in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
Your turn
Hooker has the medal and the 9. Marx has the try, the steal, a lineout that never lost his throw, and an 8.5. If the hooker belongs above the wing, the number that proves it goes below. So does any case for Sacha above 6.5.
