Kurtley Beale 6 – A butter-fingered start that steadily improved as the game went on. It is clear fullback is his best position, but is he the best fullback in Australia?
Digby Ioane 8 – Showed what a devastating runner he is close the fringes and was rewarded with a couple meat-pies. Had to do the work himself as precious little ball came his from the backline.
Rob Horne 7 – Wasn’t outstanding but did what an outside centre should do – run straight. Ran a nice little angle of a QC short ball and showed great composure when tackled to set up the Dick Brown try.
Gits 6 – He got knocked, but he got up again…and again….and again. Drew plenty of fire away from the others in the backline, handled the attention well and kicked 6/6. Looked far better than this time last year.
AAC 7 – Still the most solid of the Australian backs. It doesn’t seem to matter where he plays, he plays well. An injured ankle may keep him out of the England test which is a major worry.
QC 7 – Did what he has been doing for the Reds all season by putting others into gaps and providing a running threat that kept the Fijian’s honest in defence. He did missed 5 tackles however which against better opposition may prove costly.
Luke Burgess 4 – His passes seem to float to his supports, it looks as if he is using a beach-ball……the Sydney Morning Herald will still probably give him a 7 however.
Dick Brown 7 – Did a fair amount of work in defence, was robust in all he did plus showed some handy link play with the backs to score a try. Didn’t get yellow carded which is a positive also.
David Pocock 6 – Didn’t shine but the breakdown work of the Wallabies was tidy and he topped the tackle count – not a bad sixty minutes work
Rocky Elsom 5 – I watch videos of his form for Leinster and keep waiting for him to re-produce it for the Wallabies, maybe next week? Did what was required however should be made to run a few laps of the oval next training for dropping the ball near the line – wouldn’t have happened at Leinster, neither would have the hurdling.
Nathan Sharpe 9 – Written off plenty of times in his career and has made stunning comebacks each time, Lazarus with a triple-by-pass kind of stuff. Trucked it up, tackled well, great in the line-out and didn’t say ‘fuck’ live on air in the post match interviews…my Man-of-the-Match
Dean Mumm 6 – Didn’t stand-out but that probably proves he was knocking around doing his job. An important player given his versatility.
Salesi Ma’afu 6 – Scrum was solid and he probably won on points over his incongruously named brother, Campese. Definitely won on points over Graham Dews who tried to knock his block off.
Huia Edmonds 5 – A solid debut, but nothing much else to report. Kind of a nightwatchmen type performance, which essentially he is until Squeaky or TPN get back.
Ben Alexander 7 – Was playing well until fate intervened. Didn’t drop a scrum once which is something he struggled to do in the Super 14. Busy around the ground also – a BIG loss.
Saia Faingaa 5 – Only got 25 minutes when all the heavy lifting had been done. Blew out a few cobwebs before he faces the Poms.
Pek Cowan 5 – Came on for Ma’afu with 30 mins to play and showed up when there was a scrum or a line-out…fulfilled the key requirements I guess.
Drew Mitchell 6 – Had 10 minutes when Horne went off for blood then covered for AAC when he rolled his ankle. Scored a try trailing QC on the inside and looked good in most of what he did. Probably wouldn’t have been used in this game except for injury.
Matt Hodgson no rating – Only played 18 mins so what can you do in that amount of time? Got a full cap which is great considering his form during the Super 14.and the fact he was injured in the lead-up to the first test last year.
Rating system (no half marks):
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
