All Blacks player ratings: Wingers make Dave Rennie’s selection job ‘incredibly difficult’ for Springboks Test while Beauden Barrett hits back
.All Blacks Leroy Carter and Beauden Barrett.
Following the All Blacks’ 50-19 victory over the Bulls in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, here’s how we rated Dave Rennie’s men.
All Blacks player ratings v Bulls
15 Beauden Barrett: With a cloud around Damian McKenzie’s fitness, Barrett was given a chance to audition for the full-back role at altitude against the Bulls after his struggles at fly-half against the Stormers. The veteran playmaker looked far more comfortable at full-back, injecting himself into the attack wonderfully. He did well to assist Moorby’s first try, timing his pass to perfection, and then played a pivotal role in the winger’s second try too with a superb late chip over the top for Leroy Carter, which got the All Blacks in behind before throwing the long ball out to Peter Laka’i, who provided the assist. He kicked really well out of hand too. After an underwhelming first hit out in South Africa, Barrett hit back in style. 8
14 Leroy Carter: Caleb Clarke’s injury eased the wing selection debate somewhat until tonight. Carter was outrageous from start to finish as he floated around the pitch looking for work and to make an impact. He played a big role in Moorby’s first score with his blistering crossfield run, then crucially reclaimed Barrett’s kick for the second. He did outstandingly well to stay in field for his try early in the second half, assisted Ioane’s before doubling his own tally. He has made it incredibly difficult for the coaching team to overlook him. 9
13 Rieko Ioane: Another who had the opportunity today to play his way into matchday 23 to face the Springboks at Ellis Park, and Ioane did as much as he could. He made great decisions on both sides of the ball, scored a try, and assisted another. His versatility makes him a great candidate for a place on the bench with his ability to cover wing and centre. Question remains: has he done enough? Only time will tell. 8
12 Anton Lienert-Brown: A glue man in the backline again for the All Blacks as he did what was required of him when it was needed with no fuss. While he often took the ball into contact, he still distributed well and was solid defensively. 6
11 Josh Moorby: Like Carter, he has made the All Blacks’ coaching team’s job insanely difficult as they piece together the back-three to face the Boks. He took his try opportunities well and barely put a foot wrong all game. 7
10 Josh Jacomb: First start and boy did he make the most of it with a controlled, level-headed performance. He is unlikely to force his way into the Test team considering the experience of those ahead of him, but Jacomb’s stocks certainly rose at Loftus. He acrobatically stopped Le Roux’s quickly taken penalty kick to catch from going out and hit a wonderful 50:22 too. For the most part, his decision-making was spot on, and he played a real conductor role, not overplaying his hand. 8
9 Cortez Ratima: A decent 40 minutes where he ran great support lines and provided good service to his halfback partner. There were a handful of occasions where he did take the wrong option, but nothing too detrimental. 6
The forwards
8 Peter Lakai: A couple of handling errors aside, it was a strong shift from the Hurricanes man who didn’t hurt his chances of featuring in the Test back-row but didn’t make a compelling case either. Sharp and accurate for his 54 minutes. 6
7 Anton Segner: Another who was clearly pressing his case for a spot in the matchday 23 for the Test matches. The German-born loose forward was aggressive in contact and pitched in with two notable turnovers when the Bulls looked to be threatening the All Blacks. 8
6 Simon Parker: His game is built around his physicality and work-rate and he delivered on both while being a handy lineout option. Parker rarely has a poor outing and today wasn’t one of them, though he will be incredibly disappointed with how slow he was off the one scrum which played a significant role in Stravino Jacobs’ try. 7
5 Patrick Tuipulotu: A solid 50-minute outing from the experienced lock who simply did his job and did it well in all facets of the game. He was part of a pack that won the battle up front – where the Bulls are traditionally strong. 6
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4 Fabian Holland: It was a bit of a weird performance from the lock who was let off the hook by the TMO after finally spotting Le Roux’s knock-on. Holland had charged back to cover Liebenberg’s kick through and looked to have it covered before misjudging his dive on the ball. Ultimately it mattered little, but he also spilt the ball with the try-line begging later in the half. He showed off his slick hands on several occasions, with one particularly good offload sending Codie Taylor through. Still, he had far more good to his game than bad. 7
3 Tyrel Lomax: Part of a front row that utterly dominated the Bulls, issuing a clear warning to the Springboks. A handy distributor and carrier around the park too. 8
2 Codie Taylor (c): Rennie could not have asked for much more from his tour captain today as Taylor issued a statement of intent and proved why he is the first-choice hooker for the All Blacks. He made a great captaincy call to force a scrum right after the Bulls lost Francois Klopper and then added salt to the wounds with his contentious try after his dummy quick tap. He added another five points to his tally and didn’t return in the second half, but he didn’t need to. The coaches saw what they needed to; Taylor was accurate with his lineout throws and part of a dominant scrum. 8
1 Xavier Numia: Along with Lomax, Numia was immense in the scrums, made some good contributions around the park and was hooked at half-time after a job well done. 8
Replacements: A mixed bag from the bench, epitomised by scrum-half Kyle Preston who had good and bad moments. Still, the All Blacks bench kept a good scoring pace and made sure the result was never in doubt. 6
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