15. Willie le Roux 5
Made 27 metres with ball in hand, but failed to deliver that playmaking ability needed to get the Boks going. His positional play was also not at its best in this match.
14. Sbu Nkosi 5
Conceded a try with a poor high-ball catch attempt, but made amends by scoring straight from the restart.
13. Jesse Kriel 6
Used as a battering ram – especially at the start of the match – Kriel did his job on attack.
12. Damian de Allende 5
Missed a few tackles and wasn’t much of a threat on attack either.
11. Aphiwe Dyantyi 5
Missed three out of his seven tackle attempts, with his best moment in the match being the disallowed try towards the end of the encounter.
10. Handre Pollard 5.5
Was visibly frustrated by his own performance, but kept his cool when lining up for a shot at goal.
9. Faf de Klerk 4.5
Could have been yellow carded for a late charge, while his kicking game was off in this encounter.
8. Warren Whiteley 5
Worked hard again, but again failed to dominate on both attack and defence.
7. Duane Vermeulen 7
It was his job to keep France midfielder Mathieu Bastareaud in check and he ticked that box.
A much better outing than the one he enjoyed against England.
6. Siya Kolisi 5
The skipper failed to make much of an impact at the breakdown and also didn’t make a trademark break or two in this encounter. The Bok coach will have to reassess whether he is using Kolisi in the right position.
5. Franco Mostert 6
Went about his job in the background and made 10 tackles throughout the match. Was also solid at lineout time.
4. Pieter-Steph du Toit 7.5
It’s tough to look past this guy as the Boks’ Player of the Year. Made the most tackles in the team (18) again, one of which led to Sbu Nkosi’s try to bring the Boks back into the game.
3. Frans Malherbe 6
Not a lot of scrums in the match, so Malherbe decided to tackle like a man possessed instead. Will be happy with the 10 tackles he made in the encounter.
2. Malcolm Marx 6
Lineouts functioned, he was a presence on the ground and made 11 tackles. Then Bongi Mbonambi replaced him and stole the show.
1. Steven Kitshoff 5
Did his job, but didn’t show why he displaced Beast Mtawarira in this position in the first place. Not a beastly performance by any means.