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Meyer has been subject to withering criticism for selecting these two players.....particularly on this site. But they were huge today along with Vermeulen, Etzebeth and Louw. I thought Kirchner, the one knock aside, had his best Bok game.

Zane Kirchner
Say what you want about his lack of attacking skills, but Kirchner proved his worth under the high ball. He was rock solid in the air and made just the one error in the form of a little knock-on.  
6.5/10

14 JP Pietersen
In contrast to Kirchner, Pietersen spilled two up-and-unders. However, his workrate was top notch, his kicking surprisingly good and he was strong with ball in hand.  
6.5/10

13 Juan de Jongh
Reduced to a defender for the second successive week. Where he had one chance to run with the ball last weekend, he didn’t get a single opportunity at Twickenham - a startling stat for an outside centre.   
5.5/10

12 Jean de Villiers
Made two crucial scrambling tackles, the first on Alex Goode and the second on a barnstorming Manu Tuilagi, and made some hard yards.   
7/10

11 Francois Hougaard
A noticeably frustrated Hougaard made the most of every opportunity to have a run - he beat the first defender on almost every occasion.  Slipped up again on defence but not a bad way to end his wing experiment.
6.5/10

10 Pat Lambie
The conditions put paid to his attacking intent and it took 40 minutes for him to find his feet. There were a couple of acute tactical kicks that gave the Boks good field position but he didn’t show that he can control a Test with the boot.  If nothing else, he proved himself as a world-class defender in the flyhalf channel.
6/10

9 Ruan Pienaar
Looked dangerous on the rare occasion he darted around the fringe of the ruck but his kicking was inconsistent.    
6.5/10

8 Duane Vermeulen
Excellent at the breakdown, both in terms of clearing and winning turnovers, the Boks’ most prominent ball-carrier and exceptional on defence (15 tackles).   
8/10

7 Willem Alberts
Displayed great offensive defence as he smashed back ball-carriers consistently, effectively turning defence into an attacking weapon. Won a line-out against the throw and was on hand to score a freakish try.  
7/10

6 Francois Louw
Not as successful on the ground as he was against Scotland last weekend but had a strong Test on both attack and defence, making 16 hits in another industrious outing.
7/10

5 Juandré Kruger
An unsung hero at Twickenham with four takes and 16 tackles. Both Bok locks were immense, dominating the line-out and putting their bodies on the line on defence.  
7.5/10

4 Eben Etzebeth
Like Alberts, Etzebeth’s aggressive defence was key in the Boks’ winning the battle of inches in the tight loose. Not to be outdone by his lock partner, he also made 16 hits, won four on the Boks’ throw and snatched one against the throw. He had an outstanding Test.  
8/10

3 Jannie du Plessis
Harshly penalised at scrum time as aerial footage clearly showed Alex Corbisiero coming in on the angle.  Instead, the warhorse was judged on his work in general play where whilst committed, he slipped a couple of tackles.
6/10

2 Adriaan Strauss
Whilst his line-out throwing was out of the top drawer, he had a rather quiet game by his lofty standards. Considering he’s one of the Boks’ most consistent ball-carriers he made a surprisingly low amount of attacking surges.  
6.5/10

1 Gurthrö Steenkamp
A standout on defence. He led the front row charge in this regard with several high impact hits and was solid in the set-piece.
7/10

Replacements:

16 Schalk Brits (on for Strauss, 74th minute)
Not enough time to be rated.

17 Heinke van der Merwe (on for Steenkamp, 62nd minute)
Not enough time to be rated.

18 Pat Cilliers (on for Du Plessis, 40th minute)
High workrate and another victim of Nigel Owens’ questionable officiating of the scrums.
6/10

19 Flip van der Merwe (on for Etzebeth, 69th minute)
Not enough time to be rated.

20 Marcell Coetzee (on for Alberts, 56th minute)
Making 10 tackles in a shade over 20 minutes tells the story of this youngster’s unquenchable appetite for Test rugby and unrivalled work ethic.
7/10

21 Elton Jantjies
Not used.

22 Jaco Taute
Not used.

23 Lwazi Mvovo
Not used.

I have to say, I strongly disagree with Pienaar's rating. He was awful today, making thirty metre mistake after mistake. More than any other factor, apart from the ref, Pienaar prevented the team from having any flow. And he was weak in the tackle. Very disappointing just when he seemed to be staking his claim.

Lambie remains impressive for such a young player, making his kicks and putting in a few probing tactical kicks. The last stanza showed his immaturity though....the restart kick directly into touch ....and the last restart kick that would possibly have drifted out if it wasn't fielded. Too risky.

Those that wanted Lambie to singlehandedly create a Bok running game, are probably fuming again. But for me, mostly, keeping your head in such a tense match, was pretty impressive. By 2015 this kid could be a hell of a test flyhalf.

Mozart

Since you took the liberty of saying you don't agree with the rating of Pienaar - I will also take a liberty in disagreeing with some of them.   

   *    De Jongh did nothing while on the field of play - might as well have not been there.    Does not look for any work whatsoever  and is clearly not up to standard       3/10

   *     Lambie tried to play a more attacking game - but the other backline players were clueless -    7/10

   *     Steenkamp made one tackle and was poor in  scrummaging  5

   *     Du Plessis - bad  scrummaging        4,5/10

   *     Referee                                        2/10                                                                                                                                       

I assume you meant to say Steenkamp made one tackle. correct?

Mike, I suggest you revisit the tackling stats.

Steenkamp was solid today. He did massive work in the mauls....and a lot of tackling. The scrum was solid on our loosehead side as well. The issues were with illegal scrumming by the Pom tighthead. Here are Steenkamp's stats:

Eight tackles with one missed...not bad for a guy who the Mike said wouldn't make twenty minutes.

Those rating are rubbish. Kruger was a non entity as was Steenkamp. The Bok scrum struggled and I put it down to these two. Steenkamp for being out of shape and Kruger not enough grunt.

Pienaar was damn poor today and Strauss was off the mark

 Kruger had a strong game. And Steenkamp not only lasted handily, blowing your out of shape theory out the water. He was only bested by Vermeulen and Etzebeth on the day. For one thing, he was a huge part of our grunt in the tight/loose. And no Pom scrum ever went forward on the side of Old King Cole......Steenkamp was on top.

Moffie your take on Steenkamp is complete bullshit as is your take on Kruger who rightly got a 5 in the other ratings. Both non entities - liabilities in fact, Steenkamp for being a fat out of shape has been and Kruger for not having the grunt for test rugby. Had we had my choices at 1 and 5 we would have dominated that Pom pack