England player ratings: ‘Angry freight train’ forward and ‘sensational’ Marcus Smith shine in brave Springboks defeat
Sam Underhill and Marcus Smith were the top performers in England's 29-20 defeat to South Africa.
Following their 29-20 defeat to the Springboks, here are our England player ratings from an entertaining game at Twickenham Stadium.
England player ratings v Springboks
15 Freddie Steward: This was a big game for him after coming in for George Furbank, and it was a weird one, to say the least. He came up with a couple of errors, including being caught out for two tries, but yet he had some really stellar touches too. Was solid in the air for the most part, and came up with some great counter-attacks as a result. 6
14 Tommy Freeman: A lot busier than his previous outings, as England utilised his ariel skills to good effect. He was able to get above his smaller opposite numbers, and that helped England flip the field position around on a number of occasions. Also made some decent carries when afforded time and space with the ball. 7
13 Ollie Lawrence: A game of two games, really, for the Bath centre. He was solid in attack, and finally got the license to attack in that 13 channel consistently that he has been craving, but was again caught out in defence as the new system continued to muddle his positioning up. 5
12 Henry Slade: Improved on last weekend, but still came up with a few defensive errors. He will be the one player who struggles the most with the transition between defensive systems, and today was another example of this. Fine in attack, and did a decent job with the left-boot when kicking for touch. 5
11 Ollie Slightholme: Opened the scoring with a well-taken try, and was otherwise very busy on both sides of the ball. Will be pleased with his evening’s work considering it’s his first Test start, could have done better on defence on Kolbe. 6
10 Marcus Smith: He’s in the form of his life right now, and was again sensational against South Africa. Every time he touched the ball, things just seemed to magically happen around him and he was literally at the heart of everything England did well. Crucially, Smith showed he can also play in multiple ways too. His kicking was on the money every time, and it then allowed the likes of Freeman and Sleightholme to come into the game. Just utterly ridiculous, again. 8
9 Jack van Poortvliet: Shakey start from the boot, and never fully recovered. Got charged down a few times by the towering duo of Pieter-Steph du Toit and Eben Etzebeth, which led to a Springbok try, and ultimately lacked that threat around the breakdown he was brought in to add. Distributed well out of a messy ruck for the most part though, and allowed Smith to get his hands on the ball and cause carnage. 5
Back-row
8 Ben Earl: Grew into the game as it began to break up, and made some decent in-roads through space. Also defended well when called upon, and came up with some crucial turnovers too. Pleasing to see after a tough couple of matches this month. 7
7 Sam Underhill: Brilliant return to the Test arena for the Bath flanker, who just hit everything in his path like an angry freight train. England have been too reliant on big whackers Martin and Cunningham-South this Autumn, but Underhill was fantastic in defence and really took it to the Bok pack. Also made some decent carries, and scored a lovely try as a result. Things took a sour turn when he was taken off, which just summed up how good he was. 9
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6 Chandler Cunningham-South: Super physical in the tight, and just worked tirelessly for his team. Looks increasingly comfortable at Test level. 7
Tight five
5 George Martin: Another industrious showing from the young Leicester Tigers enforcer, who more than competed with the likes of Etzebeth and Synman. Got heavily involved in the ugly stuff. 6
4 Maro Itoje: On the receiving end of some seriously huge tackles, but just never stopped working. Always seemed to pop up in and around the breakdown, and produced some big tackles of his own too. Decent in the lineout as well. 6
3 Will Stuart: Continued from his solid platform built in two previous Tests with another decent showing. Is arguably the most improved player in World Rugby right now, and locked down his starting England shirt as a result. 7
2 Jamie George: A typical Jamie George performance. Just solid fundamentals all-round, and worked very hard under some serious pressure. 6
1 Ellis Genge: Got himself heavily involved in the tight, and made some decent dents in the Boks defence as a result. Caught out a couple of times in defence, though. 6
Replacements: They didn’t really do anything wrong, in their defence, but Steve Borthwick will still be wanting more from his replacements as they fail to turn things around. England had some real momentum at 20-19, but once again when the bench was deployed they failed to add a single point in the final quarter. Front-row replacements were much better than in previous outings, particularly in the scrum, but yet the rest of them just couldn’t add the same sort of impact as the players they replaced. It’s starting to become a worrying trend for England, and Borthwick, and it needs addressing quickly if they want to end this torrid run. 4
