The Wallabies’ poor performance so far in the 2018 Rugby Championship has gone from bad to worse as Australia slumped to a 1-4 record against South Africa.
The Springboks left with a 23-12 victory, and the Wallabies now have only one chance left to salvage some pride before the Spring Tour – against Argentina, next week.
We’re opening up our DIY Player Ratings to you, Roarers. Have a vote and let us know what you thought of each player’s performance.
If you’ve not done our DIY player ratings before, it’s a simple enough process. Hit up the form below and rate each player from 1 to 10 based on their performance. We’ll keep track of the results and publish our findings tomorrow.
You’re free to rate players as you like with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest – or toss an NA on any player not worth rating – but if you’re looking for a bit more detail than that, our handy little guide might help you make your judgments…
1. Had he not played, the team would have been better off. Negatively affected the performance of the side. May God have mercy on his soul.
2. Anonymous. Was he even there?
3. Did some things that you expect a player to be able to do, but did a whole bunch of other things that sucked.
4. Was passable in patches, but not up to standard in a squad of such depth.
5. Performed his role without anything really noticeable happening.
6. Good.
7. Pretty good, actually.
8. Very good.
9. Excellent.
10. Might as well have been John Eales.
cinque
Roar Rookie
Remember to dock Pocock a point for the times he found himself in the tramlines, as required by Cheika's attacking set-up. Fairer might be to give Hooper 7 & Cheika 1, if you wish. Or maybe just post on Cully's column on the Herald site, in response to his "A curious thing happens when Michael Hooper plays. When the Waratahs No.7 appears on the flank with ball in hand – as he should do given his pace – those who are set against him see that as the only thing he does." Etc. Who would have thought being a line-out target was a core 7 duty? What is the world coming to? In my day .....
MitchO
Guest
Back to the future. Foley to 10, Toomua to 12 (and back up 10 if Foley goes down) and KB to super sub or see if it not too late to teach him to be a wing. Folau to stay on the wing and DHP to stay at 15 until DHP (who is test class but not special) is usurped by a better proper fullback. I gave Pocock a 9 because I don't think it fair to ask him to play better without being a different person and frankly if you only have to be John Eales to get a 10 then you'd have to give Pocock a few. Plenty of Genia's passes were not great either.
Allister
Roar Rookie
Its not wind or nerves. Phipps is always wild with his passes - at people's feet or over their heads. Powell or Gordon please. Beale excels when he has space to move when the opposition are tired - he looked more dangerous and incisive when he was moved out towards the end of the match. Under pressure he throws shocking passes, gets hit in the head or drops it cold. I'm pretty sure this Rugby Championship half of our tries conceded have come from Beale mistakes. Put him on the bench, give him 30 mins to work the opposition over at the end where there are gaps and people are tired, that is his speciality.
ThugbyFan
Roar Guru
D.Pocock got my top mark of 8 and W.Genia got a 6. Most everyone else got a 5. I gave K.Beale a 3, he is not a 5/8 as he needs room to move. Even when he went to 2nd receiver (basically IC) he threw 20m wild passes to his wingers. When he is on fire, Beale can be brilliant but off song he crabs sideways and tries party tricks every time. Bench or left right out for me, back to NRC to regain some form. That gifted try on the 30second mark should have got him immediately punted. How the hell can a coach expect a bloke to learn from shocker mistakes if he is allowed to play the whole 80 minutes? I'm not pushing Q.Cooper's barrow as it was only a NRC game but the contrast between his ripping apart of Qld Country and Beale's "rabbit in headlights panic mode" was startling. Shakespeare was spot on when Richard III, an avid WB follower, cried from the stands "a Five Eighth, a Five Eighth, my Kingdom for a Five Eighth". Maybe it was the wind or nerves but N.Phipps passing at the end was terrible. I gave him 3 also and that was generous. Blokes were stopping and reaching up or behind to catch his hospital passes. What has Jake Gordon got to do to get a run? Being positive I can say it's not all that terrible. Against SA, in both games the winner scored 23 points and both games it was 2 tries apiece. Scrums went well but the lineouts and turnovers are killing us. With all that possession you barely saw any smart backline moves, just chuck it wide hoping to skirt the defence.
Leop
Guest
Hard to rate Hannigan as he had a couple of line out wins but did zero else. No good tackles, no turnovers, no good ruck clean outs, no line breaks. Nothing. Why is he even there ? When he is in the team, it is like we go in with a 14 man team from the start and when he is there for all 80 minutes? Why?
Sinclair Whitbourne
Roar Rookie
Seen a lot of rugby but this is the worst I have seen Oz. RA can't afford not to replace Cheika and his motley crew of deplorables. The worrying thing for me is the slump this season in individual players' form, as well as the poor team performances. We are going from getting a replacement with a coherent selection policy and game-plans to get the best out of a handy player group to needing to do a total rebuild. The Board members who are still present and who were part of the decision to lock in a coach renowned for being a short term fix should also be held responsible. What a debacle.
MaxW
Guest
On another note, I applaud this site for generating frank and open discussion on player and team performances. Almost all other Rugby media in Australia in my opinion seem to run "pro-Cheika, extreme positivism and delusional" Propagandist material. Nothing more than PR spin in my opinion.
MaxW
Guest
You'd have to give Pocock a 16 (8 x 2) He is literally doing two mans jobs (7 & 8) whilst his mate is out on the tram tracks.
GC Red
Roar Rookie
What's the point?