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1. Scott Sio
Dominant in the scrum, trucked it up a few times strongly and went over for his first test try. Sio’s best game this year and probably his best in Wallaby gold. Replaced at the 56 minute mark for our highest capped prop. 8 – G&GR MOTM[/one_third]
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2. Stephen Moore
Moore brought one of his usual 2016 performances. Apart from the line-out losing 3 balls Moore was strong in his contact on attack and defence. His involvement got a bit few and far between towards the end of the game and he should have been substituted. 6[/one_third]
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3. Sekope Kepu
Great in the scrum, dynamic on attack and solid on defence. The ball to put Sio under the sticks in the first half and the opportunistic dash down the wing in the second were highlights. Our most valuable prop was replaced inexplicably early (57th min) for our lowest capped prop. 8[/one_third]
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4. Rob Simmons
Two negatives was conceding a turnover hot on attack in the first half and hearing “maul” on a defensive line-out. Apart from these Simmons was tidy elsewhere and our set piece suffered massively once he left the field for a head knock at 46 minutes. He was cleared to return but his replacement (Douglas) ended up being a permanent change. 6[/one_third]
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5. Adam Coleman
Very similar to Simmons with two errors spoiling what was otherwise a tidy performance. He lost the ball in the attacking half twice in the first half, the first was a line-out ball stolen from his hands, the second was an obstruction. 5[/one_third]
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6. Dean Mumm
Offside at the end of the first half, which put us behind at the break. Four runs for precisely zero metres gained. Spilt a poor but catch-able pass in the second half, while we were attacking. Not substituted. 3[/one_third]
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7. Michael Hooper
Another lung busting performance from Hooper, topping the tackle count again, this time with no misses. Ran the ball 9 times: gaining 39m, busting two tackles for one line-break. His red-zone defensive effort at the 9 minute mark was incredible and allowed McMahon to make a steal. Hooper was instrumental in the lead up to the Sio try and got a steal of his own late in the first half. 8[/one_third]
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8. Sean McMahon
A bit of a mixed bag from McMahon, but effective none-the-less. His steal at 9 minutes was of great importance, as was his backing up of Reece Hodge to keep the ball in play for the Sio try. He only played one half as he picked up an ankle injury. 5[/one_third]
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9. Will Genia
I’m almost writing the same thing every week for Genia, this time it was 7/7 tackles, including a try saver, 9 snipes for 26 metres and one tackle busted, throw in a steal late in the second half and you have a very Genia like game. Replaced for only the last 2 minutes. 7[/one_third]
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10. Quade Cooper
A really tricky game to rate for Quade this week, he was very good in parts, including his own running and defending game. Unfortunately his timing of his passes to runners when we switched to scoring plays was poor, a couple of examples are the one mentioned about to Dean Mumm and a late pass off a rare clean line-out to Kuridrani drifted forward when we looked to clutch at a rare victory. 5[/one_third]
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11. Reece Hodge
Getting into the right places on attack saw him make two line breaks, including a risky move to keep the ball in play that resulted in the Sio try. He didn’t miss on defence, but unfortunately did off the tee. That being said I’ve never seen someone shin the ball and have it almost go through from 60+m out. 5[/one_third]
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12. Bernard Foley
Like Cooper on paper it all looks sound, including both players defence. The timing just was not there this game and like Cooper has to take responsibility for territory, field position not being converted into points. Didn’t have the same errors as Cooper, but also looked less likely to open the game. 5[/one_third]
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13. Samu Kerevi
Unfortunately didn’t see a lot of ball, but the rare times he did managed to make metres, does need to take some responsibility for getting himself into good enough positions in support. 5[/one_third]
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14. Dane Haylett-Petty
By far our most prolific attacking threat this game, 149 run metres from 10 runs, 6 tackle busts and 2 line breaks and 3 offloads. His outstanding attacking game did nothing for the scoreboard however, and he did miss a couple of tackles. Was taken off with the game in the balance. 7[/one_third]
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15. Israel Folau
A terrible game. One could argue his yellow card was the difference between the teams. Struggled on attack when he came back on. He still has amazing hands, can bust tackles and offload so it may be time to get confidence back on the wing. 3[/one_third]
Finishers
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16. James Hanson
unused replacement. NA[/one_third]
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17. James Slipper
Came on for Sio and got dominated in the scrum, giving away two penalties, didn’t do much else. 3[/one_third]
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18. Tom Robertson
Came on for Kepu and was also on the receiving end of scrum dominaiton and gave up a scrum penalty of his own. Was lucky to stay on the park for a big push in the back that escalated a ‘hand-bags’ situation to a ‘how’s your father’ during a stoppage in play. 3[/one_third]
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19. Kane Douglas
A very quiet game from Douglas, the set-piece capitulation unfortunately coincided with his introduction. He also managed to turn the ball over with an uncharacteristic knock-on. 4[/one_third]
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20. Scott Fardy
Fardy ended up coming on to play half a game out of position, he wasn’t poor, but there’s a reason he’s never been seen as a number 8, he doesn’t have the ball running ability. 5 [/one_third]
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21. Nick Phipps
2 minutes, 1 pass. NA[/one_third]
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22. Tevita Kuridrani
Had extended minutes replacing Kerevi (24) and was okay, his timing into contact looked good and managed a line-break. Could be getting back to his best. 5[/one_third]
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23. Sefa Naivalu
Played 11 minutes and didn’t touch the ball, made two tackles though. I guess that’s a starting point. 4[/one_third]
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THE PATENTED G&GR RATINGS GUIDE:
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
Altitude Ratings – Wallabies v Springboks
