Lions Vs South Africa - 1st Test Player Ratings
The Lions were handed their first defeat at the hands of the mighty Springboks on Saturday afternoon, but despite the defeat and the huge uphill battle they are now faced with, there were positives to take. We assess the situation player by player and look closely at what went wrong where.
1. Gethin Jenkins - 8
Not a bad showing from the all action welshman. He held his own at scrum-time while the other side was being battered. He worked tirelessly about the field and his tracking tackling on Bryan Habana showed awesome pace and awe-inspiring determination. For me, he's a dead set for the next test and he never gives less than 100%. A consistently excellent performer who hardly ever has a poor game.
2. Lee Mears - 5
Mears didn't have a great day at the lineout and to some extent he bottled it. He's been the outstanding throwing hooker in Britain and Ireland for some time and on Saturday he had one of his worst displays for years. Having rewatched the match, it wasn't as shocking as it looked on first viewing though. He had a couple of dodgy throws, but he didn't go to pieces and some of the lost ball at the lineout had as much to do with the freakish aerial abilities of Victor Matfield as anything else. He made a cracking tackle on a charging Bakkies Botha and while his replacement threw well, I'd be inclined to give the Bath man another chance. While Rees threw well and deserves considerable plaudits, his success at the lineout was as uncharacteristic as Mears inaccuracy.
3. Phil Vickery - 3
A miserable game for the prop and one he'll be keen to forget. After a string of impressive performances in the build up games, it all came crashing down on Saturday. The scrum was a disaster but the causes were somewhat 50/50. Half the time Vickery was simply out-scrummaged by a very impressive 'Beast', but the other half of the time he came a cropper at the hands of dubious technique from his opposite man. Mtawarira was guilty of boring into the scrum on a number of occasions and while there's no doubt that Vickery was outplayed, Bryce Lawrence didn't attend to the Springbok prop at all. Part of the problem was the bind. Being a tall chap, Bismark du Plessis' bind came up very high on Mtawarira - directly under the armpit. This was the exact same point that Vickery attempted to bind on a number of occasions and he consequently ended up missing his bind. The Englishman was also guilty of flying recklessly into one ruck and when cast a lonely figure when subbed off. A sad day for Phil Vickery.
4. Alun-Wyn Jones - 6
Worked hard throughout the game but simply didn't have the ballast to make inroads when carrying into contact. He tackled well and is very mobile, but a number of times he was driven back in contact. As a lock this is simply unacceptable when carrying the ball into contact at this level. As, on average, one of the largest positions on the pitch his lack of power is a worry. The next two tests are at altitude and AWJ's added mobility could come in handy. He needs a big game though.
5. Paul O'Connell - 7
People forget that the captain is a lock and often seem to expect the play of a centre, winger and loose forward rolled into one. He had another good game and in my view, plays in the mould of Martin Johnson. He leads from the front. He pounced on the only loose Boks lineout ball, he carried hard and he was very good at staying on his feet on the breakdown. In the second half, Lawrence awarded a penalty the Lions way for great legal work at the breakdown from O'Connell. Tellingly though, he also pinged him 20 minutes before for nearly the exact same thing. He looked perplexed at the time and understandably so. What constitutes being of your feet needs clarification because O'Connell worked extremely hard to stay legal in this area and despite this got penalised a number of times. From a captaincy standpoint he was quiet in the first half and looked a bit shell shocked at times, but he didn't fall out of the match and got his team rallied for the final hurrah.
6. Tom Croft - 8
An excellent game in defeat from the Englishman. Proved his doubters wrong and showed his worth in all areas. Jumped well at the lineout, particularly late on, tackled hard, showed his amazing pace and considerable value as a support runner. He worked immensely hard throughout the match, chasing everything, and was always a presence on the shoulder in attack - it told as he claimed two tries on debut.
7. David Wallace - 7
Another good performance. Wallace looked like a man who really wanted it. The family connection probably counts for something - his brother was part of the winning '97 Lions and the eyes told a story. He worked extremely well and though he wasn't quite the equal of Martyn Williams in broken play, he did link extremely well.
8. Jamie Heaslip - 6
Simply too quiet. He didn't play poorly by any means, but at this level solid isn't enough. He needed to carry hard into the heart of the South African defense a little more than he did. On the plus side, he controlled well at the base, particularly late in the game when the Lions had the Boks under the cosh and produced a lovely pickup and go close to the line.
9. Mike Phillips - 7
At times his service wasn't hugely precise and he was the root cause of the Lions obsession with the blindside. Admittedly this tactic gave Monye the space that so nearly lead to a winning score, but strategically it was a gambit too often used. Despite a far from perfect game Phillips played like a man possessed and never took a backwards step. His emotion on scoring was reminiscent of Jason Robinson in 2001, it's just a shame the tone was so different. He needs to tidy up his passing and step before passing only when he's actually going to go for the darting break, but he has the winning mentality and the fire in his eyes.
10. Stephen Jones - 5
Not a great game from the pivot. He failed to land two early penalties, on of which was a must in the circumstances and at times his distribution was hesitant. In attack late on he was too keen to step off his outside foot back into contact in a movement all too easy to read - he repeatedly got swallowed by the Bok defence. His kicking out of hand wasn't great either although this was compounded by an extremely intelligent Bok sweeping strategy that kept their territory well marshalled and gap-free.
11. Ugo Monye (Harlequins/England) - 5
Worked hard throughout the game, was decent positionally, tackled well, covered well, kicked well, but ultimately the performance will be remembered for the chances that went begging. While his first effort was rejected due to majestic defensive work from Jean De Villiers, his second chance simply had to be finished. Instead, it went begging. The winger is better than this performance and he will be hugely dejected at what was a real missed opportunity to finish the game. Despite playing three games in seven days - unheard of in modern rugby - he never fell off the pace. His one real shortcoming was hitting the line at pace when running support lines. He took a lovely ball late on that, if he'd be flying when he received it, would probably have resulted in a try. Instead he started to ignite the burners only after receiving the pass and was duly scragged by Habana. The line was beautiful, but the timing and pace weren't. I can't see him making the same mistakes again and while Luke Fitzgerald waits in the wings, I'd be inclined to play Monye once again. Given the same situation he won't miss twice.
12. Jamie Roberts - 9
Man of the match from the Lions point of view. He's a battleship of a player and his physicality in contact is just what the doctor ordered. He hits the line hard, drives the legs with real purpose and has phenomenal upper body strength. He's the closest thing to Nonu that the Northern Hemisphere can currently boast and he's probably overhauled Tommy Bowe now as the Lions player of the tour so far. If the Lions can work some moves to bring him onto similar lines to the ones Bowe is currently running then his added power could be incendiary. He's barely put a foot wrong and little more can be asked at this stage. More of the same please Jamie.
13. Brian O'Driscoll - 8
In BOD we trust. He is quite simply the canniest footballer around. After taking Roberts pass on the buildup to Croft's try, he was left with everything to do. He was deep within Bok territory but he was surrounded and support wasn't close at hand. Few players on the planet would have been able to engineer the opportunity, but O'Driscoll looked right, immediately processed that the cover was too tight, glanced left and made a beeline for Tom Croft's supporting line. It was an extremely fine piece of play. This is not a man who squanders chances and he looked thoroughly gutted after the game despite an excellent personal performance. He was his usual gentlemanly self, but the Irish captain look vacant and distant, lost in thought in the post-match interview. Despite a fine year with country and province, the Lions series clearly holds a special personal place. Following his 2005 tragedy if he has anything to do with it, loss is simply not acceptable.
14. Tommy Bowe - 7
A little quieter than in the provincial games but this was almost inevitable given his previous dominance. He was bustling throughout and made a couple of lovely breaks. He nearly gather a lovely ball from Roberts to dart through to score but it was not to be. Frustration was etched on his face for a large portion of the match and although he played well personally he was given very little space. Made a poor call when under pressure from Habana and tried to outstep his would be tackler rather than arc of on a less risky banana run. He remains the Lions form winger though and will retain the shirt provided he remains fit.
15. Lee Byrne - 7
Left the field early on due to a damaged foot, but he was generally solid. The Boks committed a number of players to sweep up his kicks and the lack of space afforded behind the Springbok lines meant that most kicks feel to Steyn or one of his comrades. Both he and Stephen Jones could have done with recognising that the Boks simply weren't going to allow the Lions the space behind for them to employ their territorial kicking game with much success and I'd have liked to have seen them both mix it up a little bit more. Chip kicks and running with the ball needed to have been given greater emphasis. With at times four Boks sweeping, holes were inevitable in the first up defensive line and the Lions would have done well to run hard and fast at that thinned green wall.
Replacements
16. Matthew Rees - 7
Came on and did a job that I didn't think he could. I'm impressed. I'd marked him out as the one genuinely out of depth player but on Saturday he proved me wrong. He threw well compared to Mears and was prominent in the loose. He gave away a stupid penalty for a swinging arm, but in fairness I've seen my granny throw more punishing blows. It was something of nothing and, after my initial anger at such stupid indiscipline, a second look showed that interjection from Stuart Dickinson was a tad harsh to put it midly.
17. Adam Jones - 7
Did a fine job shoring up the scrum. He'll be favourite to start on Saturday and needs another big performance. He might come across as slightly barking at times but he's fronted up very well. It's ironic that we got butchered up front because quite frankly there have been a lot of impressive propping performances on this tour.
18. Donncha O'Callaghan - 7
Looked great when he joined the action. He seemed to come on all guns blazing and in the first minute of game time took part in about four rucks. His tour has started slowly but the desire was very much there on Saturday and he's put himself back in the running for a test start.
19. Martyn Williams - 6
Didn't have a huge opportunity to do much in his 15 minutes or so, but did the basics well and added mobility and dynamism to the Lions game. 7 remains an interesting call. As I mentioned, Wallace linked very well during the game and he brings more bulk than Williams, but regardless of who starts I'd like to see them used as 50 minute men. They aren't as dissimilar as some would have them portrayed and I think two huge spells from two on form players is the solution to the number 7 dilemma.
20. Harry Ellis - Unused
21. Ronan O'Gara - Unusued
22. Rob Kearney - 7
Kearney is a young and inexperienced player at this level but injected into the cauldron atmosphere of Kings Park on Saturday he looked anything but. He was cool as a cucumber throughout a hugely intense test match, caught some massive pressure catches and was generally exactly what the Lions needed after the moral sapping loss of Byrne at fullback. If Byrne fails to recover the Irishman won't let too many people down.
Tony Hart - Monday 23rd June 11.55PM
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