Springboks player ratings from the fourth Test at M&T Bank Stadium, Saturday 12 September: South Africa 43-28 New Zealand, the series won 3-1, every score with its evidence.
Morné van den Berg had not started a Test in this series until Saturday. “You honestly dream of this when you’re a young boy playing in the garden, scoring tries in the corner of your garden and then to be out on this field in America, in Baltimore, in front of this amazing crowd, I’m speechless,” he told Sky Sport at full-time. He finished the night with a try, a conversion, a turnover penalty, the man of the match award and the highest mark WeTalkRugby has given anyone in four Tests.
South Africa beat New Zealand 43-28 in front of 67,000-plus, the biggest crowd for a rugby union match in the United States, to take Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry 3-1 in Rassie Erasmus’s 100th Test as head coach. It was 17-14 at the break and 26-14 after it. New Zealand had outscored South Africa across the first three Tests. Not any more. These Springboks player ratings have 22 of the 23 at 7 or better. The one who is not kicked the first points of the night.
Who’s your Springboks man of the match? Say so below.
Springboks player ratings: the match in numbers
| South Africa | New Zealand | |
|---|---|---|
| Tries | 6 | 4 |
| Conversions | 5 of 6 | 4 of 4 |
| Penalty goals | 1 of 2 | 0 |
| Half-time | 17 | 14 |
| Carries | 142 | 137 |
| Line breaks | 11 | 8 |
| Turnovers won | 8 | 8 |
| Turnovers conceded | 15 | 20 |
Carries, line breaks and turnovers from the RugbyPass match summary; tackle, carry and metre counts below from the RugbyPass and Ruck summaries and the broadcast graphics. Referee Karl Dickson. Play stopped for 8 minutes 53 seconds in the first half when he lost his link to the TMO.
15. Damian Willemse – 7.5/10
Back at fullback for Cheslin Kolbe’s fractured jaw and secure from the first restart, fielded on 5 and cleared clean. Ran a long kick back with interest on 10, flicked an offload round his back to Kurt-Lee Arendse on 27 and won his own high kick in the air on 32. Spilled one down the left on 39 under a Jordie Barrett hit. Eight carries before he went off on 57.
14. Kurt-Lee Arendse – 8.5/10
Four line breaks, 169 metres from seven carries, and the try that settled the series: a loose ball inside his own half on 72, two defenders stepped, nobody in front of him under the posts. Tore down the right on 41 and off the lineout on 45. Spilled a high ball on 44, the only reason this is not a 9.
13. Jesse Kriel – 7/10
Lost the ball forward on 25 when two tacklers met a short pass at pace. Got the 7 back on 61: New Zealand were building inside the Springboks 22 after Wallace Sititi’s break, Kriel read the pass and picked it off, and the next thing anyone saw was a Springboks attack. Took Damian de Allende’s pass off the shoulder in the build-up to the first try.
12. Damian de Allende – 8/10
Carried through most of the 16 phases before he went over on 15, with a pass off the shoulder for Kriel in the same passage. Eleven carries on the broadcast graphic. Spilled in contact on 10 under Anton Lienert-Brown’s hit. Grubbered for Ethan Hooker on 61 after Kriel’s intercept.
11. Ethan Hooker – 7/10
Broke down the left in the first minute off the wraparound. Player of the match in Soweto, quieter here: a grubber on 12, a knock-on on 29 under a van den Berg hoist, and the moment on 55 the broadcast half-missed, when he tackled Will Jordan, got up and counter-rucked New Zealand off their own ball. Isolated on de Allende’s grubber on 61 and turned over.
10. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu – 6.5/10
Kicked the first points on 4 after a dummy drew a high shot, converted both first-half tries and broke the line twice. Then the list: a sliced penalty from halfway on 19, a missed drop goal on 29, a clearance out on the full on 32, a side entry on 41 that emptied a 22 visit, a missed conversion on 49. Van den Berg took the tee off him after that. Went off on 65 and has still not finished a Test at 10 in this series. Every good thing he did was cancelled by a kick.
9. Morné van den Berg – 9.5/10
Sparked the first-minute break, dummied two All Blacks off the back of a five-metre maul on 22 and went under the posts, and won the turnover penalty on 44 that ended New Zealand’s first attack of the half. Went down the short side from the scrum on 53 to launch the Pieter-Steph du Toit try, then converted it. The Guardian’s live blog had him “having the game of his life” by 57, and the man of the match award agreed. A 7 as a replacement in Soweto. Speechless, he told Sky Sport afterwards. The 9.5 is not.
Read also: why the Springboks scrum remains South Africa’s key Test advantage.
1. Ox Nché – 7/10
Made ground in the first minute and hit Peter Lakai hard enough on 7 for Ruan Nortjé to get over the ball. Thirteen tackles in the first half. The scrum was not the Soweto weapon: the first went sideways on 12 and held, one was ruled unplayable on 15 for a free-kick, and Fletcher Newell won a penalty against him before half-time. Off on 44.
2. Malcolm Marx – 8/10
Stole the ball on 32 with New Zealand attacking, pounced on the loose ball after a big hit on Ethan Blackadder before half-time, and finished the maul on 49 that New Zealand chose not to contest at the lineout and could not stop on the second shove. Eight carries and ten tackles in 49 minutes. Another try for the hooker who has more of them than John Smit.
3. Wilco Louw – 7/10
Eleven tackles in the first half, most of them in the 32-phase siege before Jordan’s try. The scrum did not get the Soweto drive while he was on, and the 48th-minute penalty against Ethan de Groot came four minutes after he had gone off on 44.
4. Eben Etzebeth – 8.5/10
Stole the lineout on 10 that stopped the All Blacks’ first proper attack, hit Damian McKenzie with du Toit on 17 hard enough to force the spill, and put Richie Mo’unga on the floor on 25 as the pass went. Charged down a Cam Roigard box kick on 39 and made the carry that took the first try to the line. Lost the ball in contact on 57, the one blemish. He said this week he rated Saturday above his two World Cup medals. He played like it.
5. Ruan Nortjé – 7/10
Picked the turnover on 7 inside his own 22 after Nché’s tackle on Lakai, with New Zealand’s first full attack up and running. Forty-four minutes, one turnover, no penalty and no error the broadcast caught. Off for Lood de Jager on 44.
6. Siya Kolisi – 7/10
Ten tackles in the first half and off on 44 for André Esterhuizen, so he watched all 26 second-half points from the bench. His 56th Test win as captain, one more on the record he took off John Smit in Soweto.
7. Pieter-Steph du Toit – 8/10
Burrowed over on 53 after Esterhuizen had carried into the 22, and the double hit with Etzebeth on 17 forced McKenzie’s spill. Took the ball off a New Zealand ruck on 55 after Hooker’s counter-shove, and the penalty came when Roigard went in from the side. Knocked on carrying inside the 22 on 45. Off for Cameron Hanekom with about 15 minutes left.
8. Jasper Wiese – 8.5/10
Bounced Codie Taylor off him on 20, carried in the build-up to both first-half tries, and was still running on 78, when he helped swamp Jordan on a loose ball and Hanekom scored off the turnover. Offside on 36 during the 32-phase defence, the one penalty against him. The most direct forward on the field.
Replacements
The bench had stopped winning the last quarter at Ellis Park and Cape Town. From the four changes on 44 in Baltimore it was South Africa 26, New Zealand 14.
16. Deon Fourie – 6.8/10
On for Marx on 49 and threw over the top on 57 to start a 17-phase attack. Two throws were lost, on 59 and 67, and it stays a 7 because New Zealand scored off neither.
17. Gerhard Steenekamp – 7/10
On for Nché on 44 and won a scrum penalty at his first one on 48, de Groot losing his footing, which became the corner lineout and the Marx maul. Conceded a free-kick on 57.
18. Thomas du Toit – 6.8/10
On for Louw on 44 and part of that 48th-minute penalty. The scrum on 69 creaked and could have gone the other way, but it held against New Zealand’s whole bench front row.
19. Lood de Jager – 7/10
On for Nortjé on 44 for the 36 minutes that decided the series. No penalty, no card, nothing to replay, which after the Cape Town yellow card is the whole job.
20. André Esterhuizen – 7.5/10
On for Kolisi on 44 and hit the line at full pace on 53 to carry South Africa into the New Zealand 22, from where du Toit scored. That one carry was worth seven points.
21. Cameron Hanekom – 8/10
On for du Toit with about 15 minutes left and in everything. Held off the ball by Tupou Vaa’i on 67 for a penalty. His tackle on Moorby on 72 was the one the TMO looked at before the Arendse try stood. On 78 he picked and went from the ruck where Jordan had been swamped and scored under the posts.
22. Cobus Reinach – 7/10
On around 66 when Feinberg-Mngomezulu went off, and posted on the wing. His gallop from there on 76 put South Africa back inside the New Zealand half for the last try.
23. Manie Libbok – 7/10
On for Willemse on 57 at fullback and moved to 10 when Feinberg-Mngomezulu went off. Kicked both late conversions. Against that: Blackadder ran through him for the try on 64, his restart after it went out on the full, and the high shot on Jordie Barrett on 66 gave New Zealand a lineout inside the 22. Nick Mallett ranked him first of the three tens a week ago. The two kicks hold the 7.
Springboks player ratings by WeTalkRugby from the live broadcast. Official series page: allblacks.com. Results: every fixture and result in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
Frequently asked
Who was man of the match in Springboks v All Blacks in Baltimore? Morné van den Berg, in his first start of the series: a try on 22, a conversion and the turnover penalty on 44.
Who scored the Springboks tries in Baltimore? Damian de Allende (15), Morné van den Berg (22), Malcolm Marx (49), Pieter-Steph du Toit (53), Kurt-Lee Arendse (72) and Cameron Hanekom (78). Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked a penalty and two conversions, van den Berg one conversion and Manie Libbok two.
What was the final score and the series result? South Africa 43-28 New Zealand, from 17-14 at half-time. South Africa won Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry 3-1 after losing the first Test at Ellis Park.
Your turn
Van den Berg has the medal and the 9.5. Arendse ran from his own half to win a series and gets an 8.5. If the wing belongs above the scrum-half, the number that proves it goes below. So does any case for Sacha above 6.5.
