England player ratings: Forward pack absolutely destroyed by ferocious Springboks

Colin Newboult 26 Nov 2022 5:20 PM

Following a 27-13 defeat to South Africa in their Autumn Nations Series Test at Twickenham on Saturday, here are the player ratings for England.

15 Freddie Steward: Struggled under the high ball in the first half before recovering, but not at his most influential. 6

14 Tommy Freeman: Didn’t do anything of note apart from drop the ball. Was replaced at half-time. 4

13 Manu Tuilagi: No real impact from the centre. A couple of decent carries but his hands let him – and England – down on occasions. 5

12 Owen Farrell (c): England’s best back, but that’s not really saying much. Moved to fly-half after Marcus Smith went off and did a better job than the Harlequins man, although had some kicking issues early in the match. 6

11 Jonny May: Didn’t really get much ball but what he did during the game, he did competently. 6

10 Marcus Smith: After a fine game last week, this was a disappointing performance from the fly-half. Granted, his pack was convincingly bested but he didn’t help by continually kicking too long in the first half. 4

9 Jack van Poortvliet: Actually did reasonably well considering the struggles of his forwards. Learnt his lessons from last week, but wasn’t given much front foot ball. 6

Forwards completely outmuscled

8 Billy Vunipola: Just dire. Looked so cumbersome in comparison to the dynamic and powerful Springbok pack. 3

7 Tom Curry: Not had the greatest series but stood up well here. Yellow card came due to several team indiscretions so not entirely his fault. 7

6 Alex Coles: Conceded far too many penalties in a poor performance. Completely overwhelmed by the South African muscle men. 4

5 Jonny Hill: So many poor things from the lock, who was another to give away needless penalties. 4

4 Maro Itoje: Had a positive start with a rip in the first minute and also won a turnover penalty, but he’s not been at his usual high standards this month. 6

3 Kyle Sinckler: Absolutely monstered in the scrum. Another to be a shadow of his former self. 4

2 Jamie George: Lineout was okay, despite a couple of wobbles, but had a tough time in the middle of the scrum. 4

1 Mako Vunipola: As expected, Frans Malherbe gave him an absolute going over in the set-piece. 3

Replacements: Front-row failed to stem the tide in the set-piece, although there were some good efforts outside of that. David Ribbans, Ben Youngs, Henry Slade and Jack Nowell all had their moments, but it was nowhere near enough. 6

England