My Bok ratings

The front row — 5
Failed to consistently front up as a unit. Beast and Bismarck are tired and to be very frank have not been at their best for a while now. They were near invisible in the loose. Smittie didn’t play any worse than he has this year, but the Boks could have ill-afforded to lose his leadership.

Bakkies and Vic — 6
Vic did his lineout duties well enough but did not dominate like we are used to seeing. Outside the lineouts, however, he was near anonymous. Bakkies was just misdirected. Seemed to pick the wrong fights and is also showing signs of being jaded. Andries Bekker showed them both up in the time he spent on the field, and we know he still has some way to go before being the player his seniors are.

Schalk — 5
Poor. Tried, but was came across like a player who is a rusty after a long-layoff. Except he isn’t. A poor night for him.

Heinrich Brussow — 8
Worth his weight in gold tonight. Simply brilliant. And to think much had been made of the size advantage of the French loose trio.

Kankowski — 4
Out of his depth. It’s one thing to accept that a tight game may not be his forte but to be that poor is unacceptable at this level. Dewald Potgieter was the winner here. If he continues his development at the current rate, he’ll be our second choice No 8 for next winter.

Fourie du Preez — 6
If we had had another scrummie playing today, Morne would have had an even worse game. That is the context we must put his performance in. He was well below his best and seemed to have (temporarily) lost that spark that puts him a class above. But he still did well to take a lot of pressure off his struggling flyhalf. A game too far after THAT CC Final performance?

Morne Steyn — 5
Poor. I am tempted to take another point off for a stupid brainfade-type penalty. He seemed clueless behind a pack that was dominated. Those who criticise him as being one-dimensional would have gotten plenty of ammo from this performance. Clearly not a gamebreaker when things are not going his way. Lucky to have had FdP on his inside.

Adi Jacobs — 6
One of our best defenders on the night. The myopic few who judge him based on perception as opposed to real tackle stats will have had their mouths shut by a valiant defensive effort. Did not do much good with the minimal good ball he received though. Some say he isolated himself too much. I ask only this: if the inside centre breaks the line and draws two defenders, should the outside centre not be there on his shoulder to take the pass and carry on the move? Must he telegraph to his centre partner that “hey, there is a gap and I am going for it?” Which brings me to …

Jaque Fourie — 4
A forgettable night. He was rusty and it showed. Anonymous on attack and even worse on defence. He will improve as he plays more rugby.

JPP — 5
A mixed bag of a night for him. Did some good work on attack and defence. But also spoilt it with some laughable decisions at times. That throw-in being a prime example. The problem with his languid style of play is that when he is struggling it looks worse than it actually is.

Habana — 5
Same as his wing partner. Though he arguably had less to work with. Very, very lucky to get away with a petulant knee. That could have cost us dearly. There is an element of violence creeping into his game and he will do well to keep that in check going forward.

Kirchner — 5
Didn’t do too much wrong, but did very little right either. The definition of an average performance. Could have done more on attack especially. With Conrad Jantjes returning to fitness soon he needs to do better to claim the No 15 jersey.

Subs

Bekker — 7
Did very very well when he was on the field. Useful in the lineouts and in the loose where he was previously considered weak. Not so sure about this tactic of fielding him and Matfield at the same time though. They are too similar in their weaknesses for the Bokke to benefit.

Russouw — 6
A healthy workmanlike performance. As we have come to expect. Not a gamebreaker, but that has never been his forte.

Olivier — 5
Came in with the cause already lost and could not do much. He should start against Italy and is not a bad option to have on the bench.

CJ v/d Linde — 4
Poor. The gap between club and Test rugby was almost too wide for him to bridge tonight.