Following a 33-16 victory for the All Blacks over the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday, here are our winners and losers from the first Greatest Rivalry Test.
Winners
Will Jordan
A majestic player but he is also not afraid to get his hands dirty as demonstrated by a magnificent breakdown turnover. Jordan increased his lead at the top of the All Blacks try-scoring charts with a couple more here, but it was his all-round game which was fantastic as he once again proved himself as one of the best players in the world.
Jordie Barrett
Talking of best in the world, Barrett may not be far off top spot himself with another incredible outing on both sides of the ball. Against the gargantuan Springboks, Barrett was exceptional in defence, making a couple of try-saving interventions and earning five turnovers. Meanwhile, in attack, he was creative and made consistently excellent decisions.
Fabian Holland
Just his third game back after injury and it’s like he’s never been away with the lock outstanding at close quarters. Scored a crucial try by charging down Grant Williams and did his bit in the lineout, especially when Josh Lord went off. There was the odd wobble in the second period, but that shouldn’t detract from his performance.
George Bower
We had our doubts when he was named in the All Blacks 23 and felt it could have resulted in the Springboks gaining even more dominance in the set-piece, but in fact the opposite was the case. Ethan de Groot’s head injury enabled Bower to come on and the Crusaders loosehead battled superbly in the scrum.
Dave Rennie
Got the big calls right, including putting in the aforementioned Holland and Bower. It was a surprise that Patrick Tuipulotu was not selected given his physicality but the Highlanders star had a fine game in the second-row and, on this evidence, should definitely keep his place in the side.
Elsewhere, Bower’s place on the bench was a talking point, but the prop proved his worth by doing a decent job in the set-piece. He found it tough initially but still earned a penalty out of Wilco Louw before getting the upper hand on Zachary Porthen.
Wilco Louw
Picked to start ahead of Thomas du Toit and laid the ideal platform for his team. Louw utterly obliterated De Groot and earned several penalties during the clash, which meant he stayed on for an hour. Unfortunately, his team-mates could not take advantage of that in what was an error-ridden display by the Boks.
Jasper Wiese
Another who was a standout in a disappointing South African performance. Wiese was dominant in the carry, regularly barrelling over All Blacks players and getting his side over the gain line, but the backline were profligate.
Losers
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Looked rusty against Argentina and this wasn’t much better. There were some classy touches and Feinberg-Mngomezulu wasn’t helped by his team-mates consistently putting passes to floor, which meant he had to mop up several times, but he also made some rash decisions.
Also got worse as the game went on with the scoreboard pressure leading to him making some poor calls and overplaying. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him on the bench for the second Test as Manie Libbok has a good record against New Zealand.
Grant Williams
The scrum-half’s box-kicking, with the exception of the charge down, was a positive and he deserves credit for that, but he was poor in other facets. The ball was quite often ponderous from the base and it didn’t feel fluid with Williams generally taking at least a couple of looks before shifting the play. Part of that could have been the game plan as he was quick to go to the box-kick, even after a big carry over the gain line, but there were still some poor decisions.
Bomb Squad
Quite simply failed to ignite. Gerhard Steenekamp initially carried on the good work of Ox Nche but once Porthen came on, the scrum became more of a liability than a weapon. Andre Esterhuizen was explosive off the bench but he came on after an injury to Kurt-Lee Arendse and not having adequate back three cover hurt them.
Elsewhere, both Marco van Staden and Cobus Reinach were yellow carded while Cobus Wiese didn’t have the best cameo late on and continued the error ridden ways of his Boks team-mates. It was a bad showing from the replacements.
Josh Moorby
Has looked classy in his Test appearances so far but had his struggles in Johannesburg. Touched down once but got run over by Esterhuizen for South Africa’s only try and then had his struggles under the high ball as the hosts got plenty of joy aerially. Still deserves another chance next weekend but he found out what international rugby can be like.
All Blacks scrum
Granted, they had some joy later on but it’s been a concerning downward trend for the All Blacks since the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The front-row that started at Ellis Park was exactly the same as the trio who took to the field in the World Cup final, while the forwards coach is also the same.
Is it simply the case that losing Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock has harmed them in the engine room or have the likes of De Groot and Lomax declined as players? Whatever it is, they need to get it sorted as it might cost them in the rest of the series.
Josh Lord
In truth, looked a bit lightweight in comparison to the other three starting locks. Lord is no doubt a fabulous player but he struggled to impose himself before going off with a head injury. With the All Blacks having plenty of second-row options, he might find himself out of the 23 going forward.
Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe
The position where the Boks didn’t really want injuries was on the wing and both Arendse and Kolbe were forced off. That meant Jesse Kriel and Williams had to go out wide, and the disjointed nature of the team matched their performance in the second period. It will be interesting to see if either are fit for next week.
Rassie Erasmus
It was quite clear what the Springboks set out to do; scrum to win penalties, kick and contest in the air, and maul their way over. They also looked to get their big carriers into the game and through the middle of the All Blacks rearguard, but you still need a bit more balance.
Granted, Erasmus and the coaches can’t necessarily account for those individual errors but, when too much focus is placed on those fundamentals and the game plan is limited, it would not be a surprise if that impacted the skill levels and the attack. They got a few things right but they need to tidy up those errors.