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Springbok player ratings vs Argentina | The Rugby Championship
By Jack Tunney
Argentina beat the world champions South Africa 29-28 in an incredible test match at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades on Saturday evening.
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Hearts would have been in the mouths of each and every Springbok supporter this evening as Manie Libbok stepped up to kick what should have been the match-winner. Each heartbeat thumped louder than the last as the talented number ten stepped up to the tee.
The result of the next two seconds would come as a surrounding deflation amongst a nation as the kick went wide.
Here’s how we rated the Springbok players:
1 Ox Nche – 9.5
Stick him in the backs and he’d put a shift in there. Solid in the scrum, and deadly with ball in hand. Deserved to be on the winning side. A colossal performance.
2 Malcolm Marx – 5
Pretty ineffectual throughout and missed a couple of important tackles.
3 Thomas du Toit – 7.5
Like his front-row teammate, Du Toit was dominant in the scrum before he was taken off and sorely missed.
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4 Salmaan Moerat – 5
Ferocious in defence, but offered little else. The experiment may well be done.
5 Ruan Nortje – 7
Another player who ran truly under the radar. His running game was solid and he was vital in the lineout.
6 Marco van Staden – 5.5
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He conducted a tremendous turnover at the breakdown early on to stop an almost certain Argentinian try. Defensively, however, he was poor, missing three tackles in vital areas.
7 Ben-Jason Dixon – 6
He settled into the game well by making a fantastic break early on which was finished by the impressive Jesse Kriel under the sticks. Besides that, it was a relatively quiet game from Dixon.
8 Jasper Wiese – 6
You can’t knock his performance. It was solid, efficient, and everything you would expect from an international number 8. Sadly it was too average to make a major difference against an inspired Argentinian side.
9 Cobus Reinach – 6.5
Started the game like his teammates, world class. His fluid passes from the base of the ruck were next level. He excelled when being used as a playmaker, and put in a huge defensive effort before being suitably rewarded with a wonderfully taken try. Sadly his performance dwindled from there. Once Argentina turned up the pace, he was no longer in control, and his team suffered as a result.
10 Handre Pollard – 6
It was as well be a copy and paste of the above. A wonderful early touch-finder led to a brilliant bullet pass to set up the opener. His display quickly hit the off button, however, and his early brilliance quickly became a thing of distant memory.
11 Makazole Mapimpi – 5
He put his body on the line when needed, but in reality his defence was poor and offered little in attack. Will be disappointed with this rare start.
12 Lukhanyo Am – 7.5
Appeared panicky in the early stages, but settled in well at inside centre. The future of the Springbok midfield partnership remains up in the air.
13 Jesse Kriel – 8
Joining up with Lukhanyo Am, Kriel showed wonderful cohesion with the backline throughout and scored a well-worked try early on. His incredible talents were on full display through, particularly during an early play when he collected a crossfield kick from Handre Pollard before flicking the ball over his shoulder.
14 Kurt-Lee Arendse – 6.5
The speedy didn’t start well, He was pushed into touch early on and things didn’t look up when he was sent to the bin for a high tackle. He did look dangerous on the kick return, however, and will come away from the game with plenty to work on.
15 Aphelele Fassi – 8
The talented fullback the early try well, sliding straight through the gap to set the world champions up for what many expected to be a comprehensive victory. He continued the match with incredible confidence, getting himself involved in each facet of the game, as he proved to be a valuable member of the national side.
Replacements – 5
Known for their incredible impact on most games, the Springbok replacements will be disappointed not to have made the pressure pay when they entered the field. It was a game in the balance, and few managed to tip it in the correct way – see Manie Libbok.
Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)
I mean Moerat not a 5, literally IMHO, Reinach lower to.
How many tough test matches have those who make the ‘ratings’ ever played?
Yellow cards can swing games, but regardless of that, of the rotations in the team, and of the Libbok missed kick, this was a disappointing Bok performance.
After two fabulous tries SA seemed to dial down the intensity. But Bok teams at less than full intensity are beatable.
Congrats to Argentina!
So not mentioning Pollard miss kick or his missed tackles resulting in tries as disappointing. Not many players can hold their heads high, Ox and Fassie being those that can. Kriel played well, but not his best, KLA I think ghe YC eas 50//50, I mean Cane broke Siyas nose, nothing, not a yellow, KLA went low and Arg 11 dipped so penalty only. But this rule is so grey and down to interpretation, so yellow it was. We played into their hands and allowed ghrm in. I think BJD might be better suited at lock, use a quicker flanker, or have him off the bench. No one person was guilty for the loss and the one person coping the blame, didn't miss a tackle had the backline working, even Am played better then also his reading of where Argentina were going to kick the ball was excellent always providing cover at the back to prevent 50/22, but it's all his fault we lost.
Well at least you kids have to acknowledge you're not that good now, right? finally?
Perhaps you're still the third best team in the world - on your best day. But it was good that you finally have to understand that without ref incompetence, youre not that good to begin with. I'm guessing your third world education won't let you though and you'll continue to spew utterly ignorant 💩
Your a sad and jelouse fellow!
A bad performance in general I agree, but we all have those.
The education comment is interesting as many professionals from South Africa are well sort after due to the high standards of our education, particularly in certain fields where the requirements to achieve are far higher than their European, American, NZ & Australian counterparts. I have living proof of this in three of my professional children now working overseas commanding huge salaries and positions in their respective companies at a younger age than their colleagues.
Oh, and just a reminder, 4 world cups after two less world cup tournaments than any previous winner.
Another point, can you not say the same for Ireland losing to England, NZ list by more than 7 to Arg at home. Makes NZ worse than SA, what's your point, we lost one, with a team that was without 13 WC winners.
Wow, go look at canes tackle on Siya, obstruction from NZ first try at Loftus, but ref is blowing for us. Funny how I live in a 1st world country, come from a third world country, but you never see myself and many of my countryman calling people ignorant..There are still very high quality schools in SA, providing international qualifications. Which supposed 1st world country do you come from?
This was just one game.
Ireland lost to England. France drew with Italy.
South Africa are probably the 2nd best team in the world right, as the rankings show, but they deserved the #1 spot for the time they held it.
You need some anger management sessions. It’s only a game after all. 🤡✌🏽🤡
Who’s proof reading these articles feels like there’s words missing in some sentences “The talented fullback the early try well” for example
Ben Smith, chief editor signs these off so it shouldn’t come as any surprise.
Argentina went 17-0 down by a series of unforced errors. They also went 20-3 down against Australia. They really need to cut that out.
SA managed to turn the second half into a game of set pieces but still only won that half 6-3.
I like that Rassie tries things and gives new players a run. Wheeeeeen are our ABs coaching team going to be a bit braver?
Now they've retained the Bledisloe Cup, maybe they will mix it up a bit.?
Manie cost the Boks this game twice, once with the overcooked non touch finder which led to 40m lost territory, lost possession and ultimately an Argies score and then that final easy kick. He needs to stay at Currie Cup rugby level, he does not have the temperament for an international 10 especially when it comes to clutch kicks.
CF agreed. At this level simple mistakes are not acceptable. You also can’t win matches without a reliable hooker. Congratulations to the Pumas. They play with passion and spirit that most professional rugby players seem to have forgotten.
The one thing I have noticed with the Boks is they are lacking that killer instinct to finish off a game. There’s still a fifth gear they’re not shifting into to put the game out of reach. Granted, little separates these teams of late, but can’t help but envy Los Pumas for some of those silky passes and making some tough passes stick in heavy traffic. If the Boks kept playing the way they played the first twenty minutes they would’ve won. But it’s okay - this keeps the team hungry and working on the things they need to finesse before 2027.
There was something not quite right, after the second try, it looked like Polly was knackered and some players just weren't on song, then the penalty 17 0, after that we seemed to be dead on our feet.
Two close matches vs the All Blacks, and Los Pumas smashing the Wallabies didn't give Rassie any reasons to be alarmed.
Being spoilt for choice with enough player resources to field 4 teams???comes with the reality that it still takes your best team to win Rassie, ask Scott Robertson.
Anyway Sth.Africa lost. "Just".
Rather lose now and win when it matters. South Africa can field 4 teams yes but some of those players will not make it at international level and some will also lose form. New players might come in but come 2027 the best should be on form and experienced with multiple gameplans to really go for a third world cup which is the end goal. I have not seen the Springboks score from first phase ball with a set move in a long time, maybe never but they did for the first try. Argentina were great and good on them for the win.