3. Pasilio Tosi – 3
Grunty with ball in hand, Tosi popped a couple of tidy passes. But like Bower, he would have wanted to set a better scrum platform. Led the penalty count with four against him, a couple at scrum time.
4. Fabian Holland – 7
Smart return from a bloke who must be a big-match fixture in Dave Rennie’s side. Harassed and pilfered opposition lineout in early stages and popped up with smart hands to put Simon Parker over the line at end of first half. You need big blokes to take on the Boks, and the Dutch unit fits the brief.
5. Patrick Tuipulotu (c) – 6
Skipper for the day put in a respectable shift in a stacked lineout. Got his hands on the ball plenty, but probably should have got in the referee’s ear a bit more.
6. Simon Parker – 6
Showed his value as a lineout target in the set-up for opening try and brought meaningful grunt and heft to the breakdowns. Parker’s body type suits smashing into Saffers, but does he suit Dave Rennie’s gameplan? Unlucky to be shown a yellow card for not getting out of a maul when some other big bloke had him in a headlock.
7. Anton Segner – 7
Highly visible on both sides of the ball in the early exchanges. A no-look pass went dead into touch on a promising break down the left, but our Teutonic tackler was key to containing the Stormers in early stages.
8. Peter Lakai – 6
An All Blacks No 8 is not supposed to be beaten as cleanly as Peter Lakai was when Stormers winger Seabelo Senatla skinned him from a lineout and dashed in for a try. He fell off a couple of other tackles, too – but made plenty that stuck. On the front foot, Lakai was lethal as the game opened up, playing a key role in two tries and hitting the gas as the Stormers tired. But a dead-set missed tackle from a set piece? No way.
9. Cortez Ratima – 6
Decent showing from a bloke pitching his claim for the bench spot in the tests. Chose his moments to dart with the ball cleverly and hit his passing marks well.
10. Beauden Barrett – 2
Coach Dave Rennie would have wanted better control from his veteran playmaker. Barrett was inaccurate with ball in hand and couldn’t direct the men outside him into space in the messy opening half. There were sloppy kicks and mis-reads under the high ball. The blown second-half restart typified a night to forget.
11. Rieko Ioane – 7
Smart return to the black jersey for a warhorse who showed he might just have a few more battles in him. Rieko Ioane was quick and strong when he got the ball throughout the match, and brought defensive clout to midfield when sliding in for the injured Billy Proctor. The bleached mullet looked pretty good, too.
12. Anton Lienert-Brown – 6
Early, mystifying yellow card set the marker for the game’s scraggly nature. Otherwise, the test-match bench specialist was handy on the break and piled into defensive duties.
13. Billy Proctor – 5
Spilled a dead-set scoring chance when he dropped a (ropey) pass from Josh Moorby on the Stormers line in the 27th minute, just as the All Blacks were looking to get control of a scrappy first half. His long delivery to set up Simon Parker’s try was smart and accurate. Nasty-looking injury.
14. Leroy Carter – 4
Missed five tackles as the All Blacks scrambled and flapped in defence, but he somehow bagged a key breakdown penalty as the Stormers were running low on gas approaching the final quarter.
15. Josh Moorby – 5
Was a touch inaccurate when trying to link up with teammates and the All Blacks were generally unsettled beneath the high ball, an area that should be the fullback’s domain. But Moorby’s one-handed pick-up to score in the 76th minute was gorgeous – it takes something pretty special to keep up such pace as he snatched up the pill; needed power and safe hands to get over the line, too. His last-minute yellow card was unlucky.
Bench
16. Asafo Aumua – 6
The All Blacks posted a video on social media during the week that showed Aumua deadlifting what looked like a gazillion kilograms. The gym work paid off when he blasted over to close out the match with an 81st-minute try.
17. Ollie Norris – 5
Good work with short carries and shoving as the All Blacks gained ascendancy. Scrum seemed slightly less of a shambles when he was out there.
18. Siale Lauaki – 5
Debutant spilled the ball after being hit hard on his first carry as an All Black. Put that one down to nerves and the last gasps of the exhausted Stormer’s defence. Lauaki was part of the second-half pack that started to make sense of a messy game. Massive tackle set the platform for attack that led to final try.
19. Sam Darry – 6
Came on in the 59th minute and was promptly required to scramble back and tidy up a Stormers chance over the tryline. Darry’s bulk was handy in further defensive work.
20. Ethan Blackadder – 6
The Crusaders toiler is well suited to this kind of messy affair and was able to bring a tidying influence on the late stages of the match.
21. Kyle Preston – 5
Six grey minutes at the end.
22. Josh Jacomb – 6
The All Blacks’ best period in the match started when the Sacred Heart product began his 11-minute run.
23. Caleb Clarke – 4
On at start of second half for the crooked Billy Proctor, but couldn’t get into the game as much as Ioane had managed on the same wing.
Winston Aldworth is Head of Sport for NZME, working alongside New Zealand’s best sports journalists in the radio and publishing teams.
