Springboks player ratings versus Italy

The Springboks overcame a big hurdle on their way to qualification for the play-offs at this year’s World Cup when they beat Italy 49-3 on Friday.

Rassie Erasmus side scored seven tries on their way to victory, but they are still far from the finished product.

Most of those tries came when Italy were down to 14 men after Andrea Lovotti was shown a red card.

Warren Fortune rates the South African players.

15 WILLIE LE ROUX

He had a couple of try assists, but he is still not the Willie le Roux we know with a few errors and poor decisions plaguing his game.

5/10

14 CHESLIN KOLBE

The best wing in the world at the moment. He scored two tries, tackled like a man possessed and he was effective in the air once again.

9/10

13 LUKHANYO AM

He had his moments out wide and he put in some big hits on defence.

6/10

12 DAMIEN DE ALLENDE

It was one of his best games in a Bok jersey. He got his team over the advantage line and his ability to offload in contact was impressive as well.

7/10

11 MAKAZOLE MAPIMPI

His defence out wide was excellent and he had few good runs as well.

6/10

10 HANDRE POLLARD

It was a poor performance from the pivot. His attacking game is seriously lacking and a few of his kicks were aimless.

4/10

9 FAF DE KLERK

The ball to the Springbok backline was slow on several occasions. He was a bit predictable in this game.

5/10

8 DUANE VERMEULEN

The big man was powerful in open play with ball in hand and on defence.

7/10

7 PIETER-STEPH DU TOIT

It was a bit of mixed bag from the No.7, but he worked tirelessly around the park.

6/10

6 SIYAMTHANDA KOLISI (CAPTAIN)

He made his presence felt on defence on a few occasions, but he went missing for large periods again.

5/10

5 LODEWYK DE JAGER

He gave a good account of himself with ball in hand and in the set-pieces.

7/10

4 EBEN ETZEBETH

He was on top of his game defensively where he held up Italian players with his sheer strength. He did what was asked of him in the line-outs as well.

7/10

3 FRANS MALHERBE

Solid in the scrums before it became uncontested, but his work rate in other areas of the game is lacking.

4/10

2 MBONGENI MBONAMBI

Excellent in the set-pieces and the mauls. He was aggressive with ball in hand.

8/10

1 TENDAI MTAWARIRA

Dominated his opponent at scrum time early on he caused a few headaches with some bone-crunching tackles in open play.

6/10

Replacements:

16 MALLCOM MARX (On for Mbongeni Mbonambi, 51st min)

He was strong and abrasive with ball in hand when he came on and he scored a try as well.

7/10

17 STEVEN KITSHOFF (On for Tendai Mtawarira, 46th min)

He had a couple of good runs with ball in hand.

6/10

18 VINCENT KOCH (On for Frans Malherbe, 46th min)

Nothing special while he was on the field, but did his fair share of work in defence.

3/10

19 RG SNYMAN (On for Eben Etzebeth, 54th min)

Powerful in the collisions and he scored a try as well.

6/10

20 FRANCO MOSTERT (On for Lood de Jager, 61st min)

Very little impact off the bench.

3/10

21 FRANCOIS LOUW(On for Duane Vermeulen, 65th min)

Not enough time to be rated.

22 HERSCHEL JANTJIES (On for Faf de Klerk, 61st min)

He seemed to inject some speed into the game when he came on, but nothing too special.

5/10

23 FRANS STEYN (On for Makazole Mapimpi, 43rd min and for Lukhanyo Am, 71st min)

He did enough good work in open play during his two stints on the field.

6/10

Rugby 365