After three matches in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour, we rank the top 10 performers from the action so far.
Dave Rennie’s All Blacks were made to work hard for their opening match of the tour, muscling their way to a 38-21 victory in Cape Town over the Stormers.
However, the Sharks proved to be far less of a challenge as a near-full-strength side rampaged their way to a 54-0 win, scoring 40 of those points in the second half of the clash in Durban.
The All Blacks racked up 50 points again, racing to a 50-19 victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld with their focus now shifting to the Springboks and the Test series.
Following three rounds of action, here are our picks for the top 10 players so far in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour.
10 Marcell Coetzee – Bulls
The latest addition to our top 10 is the Bulls captain, usurping All Blacks winger Fehi Fineanganofo, who scored a brace against the Sharks in Durban.
Marcell Coetzee faced New Zealand for the fourth time on Saturday and produced a masterful performance in loose forward play. The 35-year-old has been out of the Springboks mix for some time now, but he put in a Test-level shift against the All Blacks. He topped the carries, metres, and tackle stats for the Bulls in the fixture and was duly rewarded with a try.
A huge performance from the 31-Test cap loose forward who continues to be a real force for the Bulls despite being off the Springboks’ radar.
9 Codie Taylor – All Blacks
The second new addition with Kyle Preston also falling out of our top 10 after his underwhelming performance off the bench at Loftus. He is replaced by the stand-in All Blacks captain Codie Taylor, who shone in his first appearance in South Africa this year.
The veteran hooker was sublime in Pretoria, playing a pivotal role in the dominance up front, particularly at scrum time, while his lineout throws were excellent. Taylor was hooked at half-time, a pre-planned ploy from the All Blacks’ coaching team, who would have been pleased with what they saw from the first-choice number two.
Not only was his set-piece work outstanding but he was effective around the park too and grabbed a brace of tries for New Zealand.
8 Leroy Carter – All Blacks
More change as Luke Jacobson also departs with Leroy Carter racing his way into the top 10 after an outrageous performance against the Bulls.
He also scored a brace of tries, played a huge role in Josh Moorby’s two tries and assisted Rieko Ioane’s score. Carter issued a statement of intent in his bid to crack the matchday 23, particularly following the injury to Caleb Clarke.
His performance in Pretoria paired with a strong showing in Cape Town against the Stormers, where he was quick and strong down the flank and also scored a try.
7 Josh Moorby – All Blacks
Whilst Dave Rennie stated that he had selected the team for the first Test match against the Springboks before the squad even departed for South Africa, several players have been pressing to change the coaching team’s minds and Moorby certainly fits that bill.
He missed out on our initial top 10 after a hit-and-miss performance in Cape Town against the Stormers, but his two-try and all-court showing against the Bulls has rocketed him into seventh place. It means that the consistent Peter Lakai also drops out of our rankings despite his strong efforts on tour.
6 Ruben Love – All Blacks
Ruben Love produced arguably his most compelling performance since taking over the All Blacks number 10 jersey as he masterminded the demise of the Sharks. Sure, we have to acknowledge that it was a weakened Durbanite side, but Love still showed superb game management skills, combined wonderfully with Jordie Barrett and company, and managed not to overplay his hand.
It was insanely difficult conditions in Durban, but it didn’t seem to bother Love much, who was also superb off the tee and has surely sewn up the number 10 jumper for the Tests.
Love has dropped down a position in the rankings, simply because of the performances of his touring mates and a handful of South African standouts.
5 Fabian Holland – All Blacks
Particularly with the context of it being his first major game of the year after he missed the entirety of the Super Rugby Pacific season, Fabian Holland was truly impressive against the Stormers and then backed that up against the Bulls.
The 2025 World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year was excellent in the lineouts, had deft touches in the loose and tackled relentlessly throughout the clash against the Stormers.
Then, versus the Bulls, he also produced an excellent lineout display and showed off his brilliant handling skills. Sure, there were errors in his game, but the positives far outweighed the negatives.
Quinn Tupaea combined with Barrett superbly to tear an underwhelming Sharks outfit to shreds in Durban. There was much debate throughout Super Rugby Pacific on who could partner Barrett in the black jersey under Rennie, but Tupaea’s performance in July and his first outing in South Africa have made the decision an easy one – in addition to Billy Proctor’s withdrawal.
He flexed all his strengths in Durban, dominating the gain-line, made smart decisions with the ball in hand, pestered the breakdown and defended strongly. One of the best on the park on a dreary evening on the coast.
Tupaea has also dropped a place in the rankings simply because he didn’t play against the Bulls, and one man shone brighter than others.
3 Anton Segner – All Blacks
After a bruising, aggressive and physical shift against the Stormers, Anton Segner went to another level against the Bulls in Pretoria which has seen him rocket into third place in our rankings.
The German-born loose forward has impressed so much at Loftus that he has made it nigh-on impossible for the All Blacks’ coaching team to ignore him for the Test matchday squad to face the Springboks. The biggest thing counting against Segner is his experience, but if the selections go on form, he is a shoo-in.
2 Jordie Barrett – All Blacks
Narrowly misses out on the top spot, but we would not write off that changing in the coming days. Barrett missed the opener against the Stormers before hitting the ground sprinting in Durban despite the torrid conditions. The youngest Barrett has been one of, if not the form centre in world rugby this World Cup cycle, and the Sharks felt the full brunt of that.
While Love and Preston were fantastic, so was Tupaea; Barrett was simply a cut above on Tuesday and rightly walked away with the man of the match award.
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1 Deon Fourie – Stormers, Springboks
A truly remarkable 60-minute cameo against the All Blacks in the tour opener has Deon Fourie ranked as our best player of the series so far. The 39-year-old earned a recall to the Springboks squad for his efforts as he looks to pull on the Green and Gold jersey for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, when he was an early substitution for Bongi Mbonambi – and produced an insane performance at hooker.
This time around against the All Blacks, he started in his preferred position on the side of the scrum and was truly remarkable in his all-court performance, terrorising the visitors’ breakdown, hammering into tackles and carrying like a man possessed. His shift at the DHL Stadium wasn’t just impressive considering his age, but also because it was his first game since May, with the man affectionately known as Brannas repeatedly defying the odds to come back from long-term injuries over the past two years.
He scored a try, assisted another – after winning the penalty to get the field position to strike – and proved yet again that if you are good enough, you are young enough.