Scotland v South Africa, 3 October

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SCOTLAND V SOUTH AFRICA
3 October 2015
KO: 16:45 BST
St. James' Park, Newcastle

Live on [tbc]

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges: Chris Pollock (New Zealand) & Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)

A. Head to Head

25 Played 25
5 Won 20
0 Drawn 0
20 Lost 5
270 Points 652

B. Recent Form

28 June 2014
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
55 – 6 to South Africa

17 November 2013
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
0 – 28 to South Africa

15 June 2013
Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
30 – 17 to South Africa

17 November 2012
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
10 – 21 to South Africa

20 November 2010
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
21 – 17 to Scotland

15 November 2008
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
10 – 14 to South Africa

C. Teams

SCOTLAND
 
15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 35 caps; 9 tries, 2 pens, 51 points

14 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps; 8 tries, 40 points
13 Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors) – 22 caps
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) – 31 caps; 4 tries, 20 points
11 Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 22 caps; 10 tries, 50 points

10 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) – 20 caps; 2 tries, 6 cons, 9 pens, 1 drop, 52 points
09 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester) – 43 caps; 3 tries, 51 cons, 92 pens, 393 points


01 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 12 caps
02 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 12 caps
03 Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 5 caps; 1 try, 5 points
04 Richie Gray (Castres) – 48 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
05 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 16 caps; 1 try, 5 points
06 Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) – 2 caps
07 Blair Cowan (London Irish) – 13 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
08 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby) – 29 caps


16 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 91 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
17 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 49 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
18 Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons) – 9 caps; 1 try, 5 points
19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps
20 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby) – 7 caps
22 Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 12 caps; 1 try, 1 con, 1 pen, 10 points
23 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 98 caps; 14 tries, 70 points

SOUTH AFRICA

01. Tendai Mtawarira
02. Bismarck Du Plessis
03. Jannie Du Plessis
04. Eben Etzebeth
05. Lodewyk De Jager
06. Francois Louw
07. Schalk Burger
08. Duane Vermeulen

09. Fourie Du Preez (captain)
10. Handre Pollard
11. Bryan Habana
12. Damian De Allende
13. Jesse Kriel
14. JP Pietersen
15. Willie Le Roux

16. Adriaan Strauss
17. Trevor Nyakane
18. Frans Malherbe
19. Pieter-Steph Du Toit
20. Willem Alberts
21. Ruan Pienaar
22. Pat Lambie
23. Jan Serfontein

Well, hats off to SA. They were just too good.

Too many silly errors though. Denton cost us at least 6 points from not rolling away when told to, probably lucky to stay on the pitch.

Don't really want to bash the ref, but I felt SA were getting a lot more 50/50 calls. The Swinson incident should have been at least yellow and the first 'try' should have been a double movement.

But overall, SA seem to have arrived.

At any rate, I think a full strength Scotland team will put Samoa away comfortably but a 1/4 final meeting with Australia looms and I cant see them beating the Aussies.

If Wales get through as runners up, I cant see them beating SA (due mainly to injuries) but if England get through to face SA, they will beat them I feel.

I'm not a Scottish fan, but for me Scotland are the most frustrating team to watch in the game. I always expect more from them, but alas they do not deliver. That was no exception, and South Africa were not even that good. I thought that Scotland were their own worst enemies yet again.

Majestic83 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Been thoroughly unimpressed with Nigel Owens today, had a shocker not sending pietersen to the sin bin. Clear tip tackle, guys have been sin binned for far less and with even less malice!

Think that he called it right myself, he got into a bad position accidently but JP could have brought him down better. Good call.

Doesn't matter if it's accidental. Russell's taking out of the ireland player in the 6 nations was accidental but still got sin binned. Most tip tackles are accidents and not malicious but all can be extremely dangerous. Clear yellow.

jeez so can crossing the road be dangerous but you dont get put in jail. Owens was pressured by the TMO to penalise. good on Owens for not going to the pocket.

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:

Shifty wrote:Why is it do I always see Scottish players congratulating each other and smiling when they have lost a game and the opposition has more than doubled their points score?

Is it a culture thing or do they simply accept defeat so easily?  

I think they call it sportsmanship

Shaking hands with the opposition and congratulating them is one thing, but no losing player should be smiling after losing. They should be dejected. If the all Blacks lost and one of their players was caught smiling after the game they player would be lynched then sent to England to play as punishment.

To be fair, the All Blacks have less practise at shaking hands after a defeat than basically every other major sports team in the world

Pfffft. Well we always knew it would come down to the Samoan game.
Hogg fizzy runs aisde was embarrassing today. Really let himself down with his play acting. Thought Mr Attitude problem was a thing of the past.

Lord knows what Frodo was thinking. Been a while since I saw such a brainfart from a Scottish captain.

Shifty wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Been thoroughly unimpressed with Nigel Owens today, had a shocker not sending pietersen to the sin bin. Clear tip tackle, guys have been sin binned for far less and with even less malice!

Think that he called it right myself, he got into a bad position accidently but JP could have brought him down better. Good call.

Doesn't matter if it's accidental. Russell's taking out of the ireland player in the 6 nations was accidental but still got sin binned. Most tip tackles are accidents and not malicious but all can be extremely dangerous. Clear yellow.

No the Scottish player put his hand on the floor, and twisted his body so he could make the ball available, look at it again.  Nigel got that call right.

Disagree, if that was the case why bother to give a penalty at all?
Look at pietersens body positioning and then upward motion of his torso and arms!

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I'm not a Scottish fan, but for me Scotland are the most frustrating team to watch in the game. I always expect more from them, but alas they do not deliver. That was no exception, and South Africa were not even that good. I thought that Scotland were their own worst enemies yet again.

I feel the same way, but sadly the Scottish fans will never realise that they will never improve until they increase the number of professional teams they have and actually employ Scottish players.  Even when promising players appear for Scotland U20 very few of them get a professional contract and get the chance to develop, the problems start there.  Yet nearly every Irish or Welsh player in the U20's squads will at last get the chance of a professional contract and oppertunities until their early twenties.  It really does Scotland stop developing depth and real talent.

Better team won

We needed to try to play our creative team and not try to power them

Wier not even professional class

Wilson had a good game

Strauss not stepped up yet

Wier still terrible

Need to play our first team

Our first front row actually not bad

Laidlaw a trundle bunny

Wier is rubbish

Majestic83 wrote:Disagree, if that was the case why bother to give a penalty at all?
Look at pietersens body positioning and then upward motion of his torso and arms!

Nigel didn't want to give the penalty, he only did it after pressure from the TMO. He said several times he was happy with the tackle. I'm not saying the Scottish player wasn't lifted but the fall and angle of it was down to the Scottish player not the South African tackler.

Shifty wrote:Why is it do I always see Scottish players congratulating each other and smiling when they have lost a game and the opposition has more than doubled their points score?

Is it a culture thing or do they simply accept defeat so easily?  

It is better than crying when you lose.

To be honest the scrag and high tackles did not cause Scotland's loss. I think people are making too much of it on here and it looks bitter. I was very disappointed by a few things on first watch:

- Scotland's inability to control the game / possession. Weir and Laidlaw played a big part in this. Laidlaw is just too slow at the base of the ruck for me and Weir's kick were not accurate enough (or they were accurate and just senseless.) Also, why was Weir only kicking about 10m to touchline from his penalties at the end?!

- The breakdown. Am i the only one that felt Scotland were just not putting enough people in the rucks / not clearing it out fast or strong enough? South Africa were all over them. I think tackling was fine and set piece was hit and miss but the breakdown was atrocious.

- Hogg had two opportunities to put someone away up the pitch - not for a try maybe but would have created great momentum and maybe led to two. Along with his dive this was not Hogg's best game. That said no one else would have tried those breaks he did and I feel he is still our best back with Russell, so hope he's ok.

- Finally, and most of all, the team that was picked. I personally do feel this was a 1.5 team and I can't really fathom why. On top of that no Barclay (at least on the bench), I'm still not a Laidlaw fan, etc etc

There was some officiating head scratchers and maybe Owens is getting a little arrogant (maybe a bit harsh word!) and reading the game how he feels / based on how it's going to look as opposed to by the rule book. But that isn't what caused our loss. In fairness most posters on here are pointing that out.

aucklandlaurie wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Been thoroughly unimpressed with Nigel Owens today, had a shocker not sending pietersen to the sin bin. Clear tip tackle, guys have been sin binned for far less and with even less malice!

Think that he called it right myself, he got into a bad position accidently but JP could have brought him down better. Good call.

Doesn't matter if it's accidental. Russell's taking out of the ireland player in the 6 nations was accidental but still got sin binned. Most tip tackles are accidents and not malicious but all can be extremely dangerous. Clear yellow.

jeez so can crossing the road be dangerous but you dont get put in jail. Owens was pressured by the TMO to penalise. good on Owens for not going to the pocket.

What a stupid comparison
Too much inconsistency amongst officials. Majority of others would have given a yellow. Tmo clearly thought it was.

GLove39 wrote:Pfffft. Well we always knew it would come down to the Samoan game.
Hogg fizzy runs aisde was embarrassing today. Really let himself down with his play acting. Thought Mr Attitude problem was a thing of the past.

Lord knows what Frodo was thinking. Been a while since I saw such a brainfart from a Scottish captain.

I think most of us saw Ronaldos true colors when he hit Biggar and walked off the pitch shaking his head, then does the opposite and tries to get a player sent off in a marginal incident. Not a nice guy to be honest. He's not as bad as Brown though.

We lost because we tried to play South Africa at their own game and we fell short.

We should have stuck to playing our own game

Majestic83 wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Been thoroughly unimpressed with Nigel Owens today, had a shocker not sending pietersen to the sin bin. Clear tip tackle, guys have been sin binned for far less and with even less malice!

Think that he called it right myself, he got into a bad position accidently but JP could have brought him down better. Good call.

Doesn't matter if it's accidental. Russell's taking out of the ireland player in the 6 nations was accidental but still got sin binned. Most tip tackles are accidents and not malicious but all can be extremely dangerous. Clear yellow.

jeez so can crossing the road be dangerous but you dont get put in jail. Owens was pressured by the TMO to penalise. good on Owens for not going to the pocket.

What a stupid comparison  
Too much inconsistency amongst officials. Majority of others would have given a yellow. Tmo clearly thought it was.

But then you have to take into account who the TMO was.

Beaten by a much better team on the day, that's all there is to say. SA stepped up and we had lost the game by half time, we did better in the second half but were never going to make up that deficit. There have been a lot of slow starts by Scotland in this tournament, I wonder why that is?

Pieterson could have got a yellow for the tackle and the first try was a bit iffy, but neither of those things effected the result. If we did not know it before, we know now, still a long way to go on our journey!

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I'm not a Scottish fan, but for me Scotland are the most frustrating team to watch in the game. I always expect more from them, but alas they do not deliver. That was no exception, and South Africa were not even that good. I thought that Scotland were their own worst enemies yet again.

+1, but I'm a Scottish fan.

All comes down to Samoa, which we thought would happen anyway. I am just disappointed by the manner of defeat here. We never really looked like winning, but you would question whether we ever felt we would?? Even VC in his post-match immediately talked about Samoa as if the SA thing was never even on his radar. Disappointing.

Imagine knocking out 2 times WC champions in the pool stages. That's worth the gamble, to me. Play the long game Vern. Get the confidence oozing through the veins early for next WC.

I agree as well that Hogg was an embarrassment and it was good the way Owens dealt with him, so probably just as well he will have to sit out a game. I hope he learns a lesson from that, it was a very public spectacle.

Ineffable wrote:There was some officiating head scratchers and maybe Owens is getting a little arrogant (maybe a bit harsh word!) and reading the game how he feels / based on how it's going to look as opposed to by the rule book. But that isn't what caused our loss. In fairness most posters on here are pointing that out.

He's always been arrogant, he hasn't changed since day one. What I can't understand is that he's always reffing in the Pro12 so he shouldn't of surprised Scotland with his interpretations. They should of been more comfortable with his style than South Africa. Basically listen to him and do as your told or ALL the 50/50 decisions start going against you. Denton needs his ears waxed.

For me it was very simple, Scotland played a relatively poor team that played badly in the first half, and no wonder, imagine being told that effectively you were cannon fodder. I believe that we would have beaten South Africa with our strongest side.
I actually thought Weir played very well, his touch finders were so conservative it makes me think it was a strategy, after his interception he became very confident and his performance picked up noticeably.

Ineffable wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I'm not a Scottish fan, but for me Scotland are the most frustrating team to watch in the game. I always expect more from them, but alas they do not deliver. That was no exception, and South Africa were not even that good. I thought that Scotland were their own worst enemies yet again.

+1, but I'm a Scottish fan.

All comes down to Samoa, which we thought would happen anyway. I am just disappointed by the manner of defeat here. We never really looked like winning, but you would question whether we ever felt we would?? Even VC in his post-match immediately talked about Samoa as if the SA thing was never even on his radar. Disappointing.

Imagine knocking out 2 times WC champions in the pool stages. That's worth the gamble, to me. Play the long game Vern. Get the confidence oozing through the veins early for next WC.

Agreed cotter didn't seem disappointed with the result or performance. Despite what he said he was clearly saving players for Samoa and didn't consider scotland having a real chance against South Africa. Been disappointed with cotter's attitude in recent weeks.

South Africa were simply awesome. Benefiting from the loss of JdV and Matfield they had energy, power and enthusiasm.

South Africa are now back on the THREAT list after these conveniently timed injuries.

The biggest disappointment for me was physicality across the board.

In attack we were regularly smashed backwards and lacked go forward. Matt Scott was thrown around like a chew toy, Denton regularly was driven back and the Gray's weren't much better. I can't help but think that Jonny Gray is underpowered at the highest level - he was giving away 3 inches and several kg to the SA locks. Strauss was the only player to carry effectively.

In defence we hardly put in any dominant tackles - again this comes down to physicality.

We were turned over a lot at the rucks - a combination of not putting enough numbers in and SA being very clever with their counter rucking . When we were numbers down or had a small player at the ruck they targeted it and got turnovers.

Ref wise the biggest gripe for me was the neck high tackles - ineffible said that it is sour grapes to bring it up but I don't think that's fair. No one is suggesting it was the difference between winning and losing, but it is a very dangerous part of the game that needs cracked down on. It wasn't just today - I remember watching the SA - Samoa game and thinking that both teams were getting away with it a lot, and it was bloody dangerous.

You can see why teams do it - it is very difficult to get over the gainline when a big bloke tackles you in the upper chest level, but what's it going to take for refs to stop it - someone to break their neck?

I thought Cowan played well, and didn't think Weir was that bad. He's got a very good pass on him, but the problem is he does it 10m behind the gainline! His kicking was dodgy though. Scott and Seymour were pretty anonymous in that match.

Finally, that was Laidlaw's worst game in a Scotland shirt.

donglewood wrote:South Africa were simply awesome. Benefiting from the loss of JdV and Matfield they had energy, power and enthusiasm.

South Africa are now back on the THREAT list after these conveniently timed injuries.

They look a very average team, Scotland were just worse.

Watching Oz England right now. Assuming we'll see Scotland Oz quarter final and with a similar performance to today it'll be 35-40 points. Maybe VC is being pragmatic, knows this, and is saving for the QF.

We all knew what would happen today. Vern Cotter in particular - which is why he just wanted it out of the way. Is it really a surprise to anyone that he was nonplussed about the result? The moment that this draw was announced it was decided that this game would not be relied upon for any points.

This game was written off from the beginning and next week, when we absolutely hammer Samoa (which we will), this will just be an unpleasant little footnote for us. Nobody other than Scotland fans will care about this. This was exactly what it always looked like it would be and I'm too long in the tooth now to get very emotional about it.

Let's move on. Nothing to see here.

Ineffable wrote:Watching Oz England right now. Assuming we'll see Scotland Oz quarter final and with a similar performance to today it'll be 35-40 points. Maybe VC is being pragmatic, knows this, and is saving for the QF.

Scotland - Australia will be a very good game to watch. We will get absolutely mullered on current form, but it will be genuinely entertaining.

RDW_Scotland wrote:The biggest disappointment for me was physicality across the board.

In attack we were regularly smashed backwards  and lacked go forward. Matt Scott was thrown around like a chew toy, Denton regularly was driven back and the Gray's weren't much better. I can't help but think that Jonny Gray is underpowered at the highest level - he was giving away 3 inches and several kg to the SA locks. Strauss was the only player to carry effectively.

In defence we hardly put in any dominant tackles - again this comes down to physicality.

We were turned over a lot at the rucks - a combination of not putting enough numbers in and SA being very clever with their counter rucking . When we were numbers down or had a small player at the ruck they targeted it and got turnovers.

Ref wise the biggest gripe for me was the neck high tackles - ineffible said that it is sour grapes to bring it up but I don't think that's fair. No one is suggesting it was the difference between winning and losing, but it is a very dangerous part of the game that needs cracked down on. It wasn't just today - I remember watching the SA - Samoa game and thinking that both teams were getting away with it a lot, and it was bloody dangerous.

You can see why teams do it - it is very difficult to get over the gainline when a big bloke tackles you in the upper chest level, but what's it going to take for refs to stop it - someone to break their neck?

I thought Cowan played well, and didn't think Weir was that bad. He's got a very good pass on him, but the problem is he does it 10m behind the gainline! His kicking was dodgy though. Scott and Seymour were pretty anonymous in that match.

Finally, that was Laidlaw's worst game in a Scotland shirt.

Nitpicking a bit but I think you are a wee bit harsh regarding Richie Gray. He consistently made ground and really impressed me.

That's a fair comment RG, but the Gray's were a distant 2nd compared to the bok 2nd row I reckon.

Well done SA. The better team won. Pietersen was lucky not to get yellow but that wouldn't have made any difference to the final outcome.
Let's hope we don't have any serious injuries although Brown replacing Ford may not be too much of a bad thing.

PS Weir is absolutely awful - no need to discuss. I heard the first half on the radio and |Big Gav was doing his nut about his kicking

The biggest worry for me if we do beat Samoa and play Aus in the QF is the breakdown - we're going to be completely destroyed by Hooper and Pocock if we don't significantly improve.

Where to start...

If youre going to try and smash over the gainline against the boks, you need to do it in pods, otherwise they will beat you to the breakdown 99 times out of 100. No isolated carriers in the wider channels unless youve created space, ie you need to earn the right to go wide, which we didnt.

In defence, you CANNOT be so passive at the breakdown against south africa and expect anything other than total defeat. The only player who appeared to be competing was Cowan.

The only two players i'd give passmarks for that were Cowan and Weir. Dont agree that the Grays were good, they were totally outshone by De Jager and Etzebeth. Brown ran a lot, but it was almost always sideways.

And finally Hogg. You disgraced your country with that dive today.

I didn't see Japan/Samoa game but judging by the result, I guess Samoa have given up so I do think we will beat them.
You are right about the back-row. The blend just hasn't been right; all good players in isolation but they don't hunt in pairs like Oz.

Radical plan - if we do play Oz, play Weir but, straight from kick off, get him to kick both Pocock and Hooper really hard in the Davina McCalls so they are unable to carry on.This would have the extra benefit of getting Weir sent off and banned so he can't play any further part in the WC?

Got to be impressed with the physicality SA bring. We just couldn't match it. I thought Brown and Cowan done well, and Strauss carried well.

Anyway well done SA

Sorry, not sure how Weir is getting positive reviews, he kicked away so much possession for no reason. It was normally right down South Africa's throat. If he managed to put it into space or out for touch fair enough, but it was just giving SA the ball with time to run back at us.

EWT Spoons wrote:Sorry, not sure how Weir is getting positive reviews, he kicked away so much possession for no reason. It was normally right down South Africa's throat.  If he managed to put it into space or out for touch fair enough, but it was just giving SA the ball with time to run back at us.

I just watched Edinburgh literally kick every ball they got for the first half an hour last night. They made Weir look like Carlos Spencer...

Can we start a petition to get BVC to devote some of this week's training to gathering restarts?

InjuredYetAgain wrote:Can we start a petition to get BVC to devote some of this week's training to gathering restarts?

Absolutely - it's a sure bet that we mess up at least one, and it is usually straight after we score

Id rather we sorted out the breakdown, but weve been saying that ever since Robinson stood down.

I don't think you can really coach dynamicism. SA and others explode into rucks but we seem to ponce about, deciding only when we get there what we are going to do. Ok, you do have to react to things but you must have some sort of plan before you get near a ruck

I think people should be very worried about the boks. They looked all of a sudden very comfortable and fair to say... the scoreline flattered Scotland.

The only scottish try was a lucky breakaway. Otherwise they never threatened.

De Jager was out of this world... what workrate.

The intensity was incredible by the boks. Bissie was a force... and he only just passed a fitness test pre match.

The newcastle pitch was narrow and short... had it been a regulation rugby pitch I think the boks would have exploited Scotland quite a bit.
Nevertheless Scotland played ok. I thought they competed reasonably well.

I don't see Wales beating the boks at the current rate but I guess they beat them last time so who knows. They will have to seriously raise their game mind.

I do think we need to keep some perspective here.
Of the first choice XV, we didn't start Dickinson, Ford, Hardie, Russell, Bennett or Maitland/Lamont. Possibly add Horne if you want, too. So I don't think we should be massively downbeat as I think we will still beat Samoa

Am watching the game now. Man we are poor.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Am watching the game now. Man we are poor.

Don't expect things to get much better as the game goes on...

fa0019 wrote:I think people should be very worried about the boks. They looked all of a sudden very comfortable and fair to say... the scoreline flattered Scotland.

The only scottish try was a lucky breakaway. Otherwise they never threatened.

De Jager was out of this world... what workrate.

The intensity was incredible by the boks. Bissie was a force... and he only just passed a fitness test pre match.

The newcastle pitch was narrow and short... had it been a regulation rugby pitch I think the boks would have exploited Scotland quite a bit.
Nevertheless Scotland played ok. I thought they competed reasonably well.

I don't see Wales beating the boks at the current rate but I guess they beat them last time so who knows. They will have to seriously raise their game mind.

...and the Boks let two definite tries slip by forwards not passing to an unmarked Habana within the Scottish 22.

Majestic83 wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Been thoroughly unimpressed with Nigel Owens today, had a shocker not sending pietersen to the sin bin. Clear tip tackle, guys have been sin binned for far less and with even less malice!

Think that he called it right myself, he got into a bad position accidently but JP could have brought him down better. Good call.

Doesn't matter if it's accidental. Russell's taking out of the ireland player in the 6 nations was accidental but still got sin binned. Most tip tackles are accidents and not malicious but all can be extremely dangerous. Clear yellow.

edit - my answerdidn't post
The scots legs did not go above his hips so arguably not even a tip tackle and the SA player neither dropped him nor drove him into the ground. No yellow is fine in my book

funnyExiledScot wrote:Am watching the game now. Man we are poor.

FES, you should abbreviate "we are" to "Weir"

My player ratings:

Reid - 6

Put some decent hits in and the scrum wasn't too bad on his side

Brown - 7

Good lineout and busy around the park but looked small compared to the bocks

Nel - 5

Quiet game - didn't notice him

R Gray - 6

The better of the Gray's, but comprehensively outplayed by the boks 2nd row

J Gray - 5

Needs to take fault for lineout jitters, and looked underpowered against the massive bok locks

Strauss - 7

Our best ball carrier - the only one to get over the gainline regularly

Cowan - 7

Competed well at the breakdown, winning one good turnover. I don't think he gave away that many penalties either!

Denton - 6

Didn't get much go forward with his carrying, and that is his main point for being in the team. Kept going the whole 80 to his credit

Laidlaw - 4

A poor game, compounded by a stupid yellow

Weir - 6

Certainly a mixed game, but he deserves a lot of credit for our try. Where did that pace come from??

Visser - 4

A quiet game, caught out in defence and another feeble high ball attempt

Scott - 5

Thrown about like a rag doll despite being in the team to provide physicality and go forward

Vernon - 5

Solid but unspectacular.

Seymour - 5

Was he playing?

Hogg - 6

A fantastic break and always dangerous, plus good kicking and high ball takes, but one awful pass and the 'dive' means less marks for him.