Hat-trick hero: Bryan Habana

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South Africa returned to winning ways after thumping Australia 31-8 in Pretoria. Now it's time for Planet Rugby to rate the Boks!

15 Zane Kirchner: Credit to the Bok full-back who once again silenced his critics with another sound performance at the back for SA. Patrick Lambie received a huge roar from the crowd when he took to the field, but there's no denying Kirchner's impact he had on the match during the 55 minutes he was on the field which included a try. 7/10

14 Bryan Habana: This was the sort of Test made for Habana. The veteran winger took and created his chances throughout the match and his hat-trick of tries was just reward for his tireless work on the pitch. Nine runs for 117 metres is top notch. 9/10

13 Jaco Taute: Impressive debut for the Lions centre who got stuck in from the kick-off. Rock solid in marshalling the midfield defence and showed his distribution skills on attack. Hardly put a foot wrong in his 75 minutes on the field. 7.5/10

12 Jean de Villiers: One of his better games in the Rugby Championship campaign, but by far his best as captain. Made some good calls with the goal-kickers, bringing on Ruan Pienaar after Johann Goosen's early misses and opting for touch which led to the game's opening try. 7/10

11 Francois Hougaard: In attack the ball unfortunately never quite went his way. Reputation enhanced nonetheless. 6/10

10 Johan Goosen: South Africa's newest pivot repaid Bok coach Heyneke Meyer's faith with a performance the entire Republic were begging for. Early nerves perhaps playing a part in his misses at goal, but made up for it with ball in hand on attack. Bright future lies ahead... 7.5/10

9 Ruan Pienaar: Needed a big performance after losing his way in Dunedin, but rediscovered his magic touch in Pretoria. Took over kicking duties early on, and made an instant impact from the tee. Full of sniping runs too... best outing in a long while in the green and gold. 8/10

8 Duane Vermeulen: Arguably the quietest of South Africa's loosies as far as running metres was concerned and was less visible than usual with ball-in-hand, but didn't shy off on defence - making huge hits. Pinched a few on the deck too7.5/10

7 Willem Alberts: Smashed into the opposition with abandon, and led the Boks' effort in defence with 10 tackles. 7/10

6 Francois Louw: A man of the match performance from the Bath flanker, who has taken his chance with both hands since answering Meyer's SOS from England. An all-round game of the highest quality with a try to boot. 9/10

5 Andries Bekker: After being dropped following the Argentina Test, Bekker justified his recall to the starting XV with a strong performance that Boks fans have come to expect from this man-mountain. Seven takes at line-out time and good work around the field. 7.5/10

4 Eben Etzebeth: Played in the shadow of his second-row partner before being subbed, but did his playing reputation little harm in his first match back after serving a two-week ban for punching. Kept the boxing gloves at home this time out. 6.5/10

3 Jannie du Plessis: Fronted up at scrum-time and helped turn the screw when SA were on top. 7/10

2 Adriaan Strauss: Good darts in the line-out and held up well in the scrum. Got through a mountain of donkey work at ruck time too, and helped SA to dominate the breakdown. 8/10

1 Tendai Mtawarira: Busy in the tight and the loose and made his presence felt during the forward battles. 6.5

Replacements:

16 Tiaan Liebenberg: Didn't play long enough to warrant a rating.

17 Pat Cilliers: Didn't play long enough to warrant a rating.

18 Flip van der Merwe: Played the final quarter of the match, and put in some telling hits. 4/10

19 Marcell Coetzee: Also got stuck in for 20-odd minutes, showing plenty of hunger in ths short time on the pitch. 6/10

20 Elton Jantjies: Didn't play long enough to warrant a rating.

21 Juan de Jongh: Nearly scored a try with his first touch of the ball, only to lose the pigskin with the tryline under his nose. 4/10

22 Pat Lambie: Huge roar from the Loftus crowd when he came on for Kirchner. But that's as much exitement the home supporters got from the replacement full-back.4/10