Chilliboy was great in the loose, needs to work on his scrumming, but would be great as a last 15min replacement. Busmark is just too good.

If the boks kicked for with every kickible penalty we would have won.

Should be something like this:

15.Kirchner – Mistake or two but not bad for his first test against a fired up Lions side 5/10
14. Ndungane – Kept trying but simply not enough speed to compete at this level 5/10
13. Jacque – The best in his position by far, did not get enough quality ball 6/10
12. Wynand – Great on defence and kept trying on attack. Needs more gametime 5/10
11. Nokwe – Not good enough on attack and even worse on defence. Should be his last game for Boks 3/10
10 Morne – The best flyhalf in the country and should be first choice going forward 6/10
9. Fourie – The best scrumhalf in the world 7/10
8. Kanko – The Spies/Kanko argument is settled. Spies 1st choice by miles 5/10
7 Juan – Not his best but still a good player 5/10
6. Brussouw – This boy is going places and will become a legend 6/10
5. Matfield – His worst game in years, missed his partner but should be no excuse. Trying to play centre at times! 4/10
4. Muller – A Super 14 player at best, no more 4/10
3. Smit – Not his best but not bad either 5/10
2. Chili – Definitely not the second best hooker in the country and out of depth 4/10
1. Beast – This time came off second best, overall not bad though 5/10

Stephen Jones, Rugby Correspondent

South Africa

Zane Kirchner 4
Played like a tiny schoolkid at a convention of big bullies. Out of his depth, and hopefully his career will not be set back

Odwa Ndungane 7
Very unlucky not to be awarded a try, and probably the most convincing South African attacker

Jaque Fourie 5
We heard all week what a pasting he was going to give to the Lions in midfield. But as it turned out, he ran straight into the tenacious Tommy, and was never seen again

Wynand Olivier 5
He produced at least the most perfect pass of the match. Straight into the path of Ugo Monye. They said it was a 14-point try. No it wasn’t, it was a seven-point try

Jongi Nokwe 4
Out of his depth, and with the greatest respect, this appeared to be what they call a selection from affirmative action

Morne Steyn 7
Surely, the fly-half of the future, composed and a beautiful striker of the ball

Fourie du Preez 6
There has only been one world-class scrum-half in South Africa these past three weeks, and it has not been Fourie. Shaw’s knee in his back did not help

Tendai Mtawarira 6
Quiet as a mouse in the scrum, but to be fair, his tenacity lasted almost until the end

Chiliboy Ralepelle 4
Struggled badly, and it was absolutely no surprise when Bismarck du Plessis sailed into view as soon as the second half started

John Smit 6
His most uncomfortable afternoon, and one of those days when he probably regretted switching to play at prop

Johann Muller 8
A very fine performance, not first choice but he was outstandingly conspicuous in the resistance

Victor Matfield 7
He may not be much of a force around the field, but the Lions simply could not find a way to touch him in the lineout all series

Heinrich Brussow 6
The Lions had worked him out, they managed to remove him from the action at the tackle, reducing him to some rather petulant mauling off the ball

Juan Smith 6
Excellent, really quick for a big man but on the day, it was the style of Martyn Williams opposite that was far more effective

Ryan Kankowski 7
He is some athlete, but the gentlemen of the jury are still in conference as to his true all-round worth

Bench 4
The more of their first-choice players they brought on, the more the Lions dominated, and the arrival of Pierre Spies on the wing was just another aberration by the South African coach

Lions

Rob Kearney 9
Absolutely splendid, choice of play and execution almost beyond reproach, Ireland have a diamond

Ugo Monye 7
Welcome to the party, Ugo. He concentrated hard at close quarters, and sprinted in for the Test-winning try

Tommy Bowe 8
To step in out of position in a match of this stature and play so well, was a wonderful achievement

Riki Flutey 9
We knew he could do it, but this effort in midfield, and especially with the crunching tackles and sleight of hand, made you wish that more Kiwis would play for the Lions

Shane Williams 9
All the old instincts and steps were back, two searing tries and a smile back on Shane’s face

Stephen Jones 8
He emerged from a battering, his composure was sensational, this was probably his finest career hour

Mike Phillips 8
Dominant and influential throughout, and not half bad when beginning a whole new career as a centre towards the end

Andrew Sheridan 9
Yesterday he looked the forward that some of us have always known him to be. The new Beast in the scrum and hard yard carries

Matthew Rees 7
It was a shame that he took a heavy knock and had to leave the field because he has advanced really well under pressure on this tour

Phil Vickery 8
It is little late in career for a comeback, Lazarus had nothing on this. Left to a hero’s reception

Simon Shaw 7
Loses one mark for the binning, looked just a tad weary as he walked off but frankly, there is no medal yet minted big enough for what he has achieved

Paul O’Connell 8
His best game of the tour, he was in the ear of the referee and the Springboks, his carrying was not explosive but otherwise immense

Joe Worsley 7
How marvellous that he started a Test, and a man as hard as this will always fly in the environment

Jamie Heaslip 9
At last, the true Jamie. He had been disappointing in the series, but here we had an impersonation of Hercules

Martyn Williams 9
Better and better. He will be some player by the age of 50. Remarkably involved

Bench 9
All good news. Even John Hayes put in two big scrums, and Alun Jones had the ball under lock and key as the clock ran down

What I mean by this is that if I carry the ball with attacking intent playing the situation as it presents itself to me, I can pick the gap or point of attack as well as the type of play I will employ, so I therefor dominate the play. What the opposition need to do to stop or nullify my attack is to change the situation presenting itself to me by variation and bringing pressure to bear on me by means of attacking agressive defence- ie cutting down my space and time and options to force me to have to think and act quicker. This the BOks failed to do dismally.

Our defensive strategy was to form a barricading defensive line and wait behind the advantage line for them to run at us, when we should have, as a line, advanced forward and tackled them behind or on the advantage line. The innitiating of this forward advance on attack comes at scrums from your 6 flanker and at lineouts and loose phases from your designated loose forward defending the flyhalf channel- ussually your 7 flanker if you play a fetcher, with your 8 sweeping behind the defensive line.

Interesting thing is this is where you have a prime example of how stats can be misleading. Reason?
1. If defenders wait for attackers to run at them and pull off the tackle behind the advantage line, their stats still look good because they still make the tackle, but lose 10 to 15 meters of field position every time.
2. Clever players will position themselves in “high hit” areas which atttackers are more likely to target and can thus even manipulate their personal tackle stats to the detriment of the teams.

And this happened time and again on Saturday. What the technical coaches have to understand is that if you are playing a fetcher, his primary job is just that- to fetch, and he is continuously buying time for himself by focussing on the ball and running lines on defense which will place him ideally to fetch at the next tackle or beakdown. This is no rocket science and it goes with the territory, but what you have to then understand is (a) it is humanly and physically impossible for him to hit every breakdown optimally placed to steal the ball- every ball, time after time, so (b) he needs a foil to play from, someone who hits every second ruck for him and slows down opposition ball to buy time for the fetcher at the following ruck. The foil’s aim is not neccesarily to fetch, but more to contest and slow down ball, in that way increasing the odds that the fetcher will steal the ball at the next ruck.

So it is like hunting in a pair with the fetcher getting all the glory while the foil does half the work, but the team wins as a result. This is how the Bulls play it with Stegman as fetcher and Potgieter as foil, leaving Spies free to do all the carrying from quick second phase stolen ball.

Because Juan Smith played the classic 7 flanker primary ballcarrier and defender role he normally plays with Schalla around, where the roles are far less defined when it comes to fetching (sort of each to his own in the situation), the Boks were not only less effective at the breakdown, but it also impacted on Kanko’s game because he firstly didn’t get much ball to work with and secondly was out of position to capitalize optimally on the quick ball, because he was a channel closer in than what he should ideally have been when receiving ball to carry up.

This is not through any fault of the players, but as a result of the failure of the technical coaching staff to appreciate the change in roles and duties which takes place amongst the loosies, and the resultant opportunities, when you play a fetcher.

To return to the second paragraph above, it was the absense of a foil at every second breakdown which allowed them to win quick ball to play wide and stretch or fetcher to the limits reach-wise, in spite of our fetcher having a half-decent game, and as a consequence, combined with us waiting for their carriers to run at us, their backs were more in the game with quality quick phase ball. In short, they ran Brussouw ragged the entire match.

To get back to the foil- he has to be able to combine a degree of fetching ability with a very strong defensive game and some ball-carrying ability. There are two players currently in SA able to fullfill that role. The by far most proficient of the two is Dewald Potgieter, and the other is Jacques Botes. Luke Watson would also be able to slot in as foil quite seamlessly, but he is off overseas soon.

So all is not doom and gloom. We have two accomplished fetchers in SA in Brussouw and Stegmann, with young Biscuit van Deventer coming through the nursery as well. Plus we have Potgieter and Botes as foils. The rest of the guys, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Duane Vermeulen, Jean Deysel and Nick Koster, will have to vie for no 8 with Spies and Kanko in the near future when the fetcher/foil loosie pattern becomes the style of preference in the Bok team, which it will due to pressure from the AB’s and the Ozzies, who both have already bought into it if their current team make-ups are anything to go by.

All the abovementioned guys have very strong ballcarrying capabilities and any of them on the day could fullfull the primary ballcarrier function which will become the no 1 duty of eigthmen in future.

The game has just gone into overdrive, and to keep up with the pace we have to adapt or die.

Why did McGeechan start with Martin Williams and Joe Worsley in tandem on Saturday, together with Heaslip. Could it be that he too read the script correctly? The scoreboard certainly tells us so. It certainly isn’t the Bible, but it too doesn’t lie.

Sugar-coat that any way you want!

Did he make a tackle? He certainly did not tackle his man backwards! Did he even clean a ruck once?

“2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (7) – Oh the boy was great for 40 minutes before injury ruled him out of the match at half-time. Powerful on both attack and defence and accurate at lineout time. Superb effort.”

We struggled in teh scrums until Bissie cam eon. Otherwise ok- not great..

#38 JB_BOK: I cannot believe that with those backline players, they could not make any space for Nokwe. A crying shame.

Nokwe is not great on defence though. He chases the high ball, but shows no inclination to take contact when he is there. Maybe cause he diclocated his finger?

olivier was not the best back he run side ways all day and closed the space for fourie and the wings

It is a lot to do with the coach, he went in with a light weight pack Seems strange to say with minimal changes. The packs didn’t turn up, which reflected poorly on the backs.

Victor’s worst game for a long time.

Fourie Du Preez had a shocking kicking game, it really let the side down. The big problem is that we need to vary our game. Running the ball back is non existent. A sad indictment on our running game.

We had the players to play a fast & loose game, with Kanko, Brussow, Nokwe etc. A real opportunity missed.

Boks lost because of the Lions defense in open play and at the breakdown. And because they bullied us. We kept our discipline all the way to the 60th minute. Not bad considering “we were the thugs last week”. (take note I used inverted commas)

Odwa should get an extra point for ripping that ball out of whatshisface hands