Rob Kearney 9 - Back to the Rob Kearney of the Six Nations. Confident to the point of arrogant under the high ball and took his try with enough composure to make Ugo Monye wonder if he's in the right line of work.
Tommy Bowe 7 - Another ding-dong battle with Habana, who must have left him thinking he was still in Emyvale with his tackle just before half-time. Enhanced his reputation again.
Brian O'DRiscoll 8 - Is there a soul who isn't delighted for him? Organised everyone around him and played such clever rugby on just about every occasion he was near the ball. So sorely missed when he and Roberts went off.
Jamie Roberts 7 - Didn't find the room he managed last week but that was to be expected. Still, he drew an extra tackler each time he was on the ball as a consequence. Never anything less than willing to take punishment, he and O'Driscoll were a wall defensively when they were on the pitch.
Luke Fitzgerald 8 - Magnificent debut. So quick both of thought and of foot when the Lions had the ball, linking up classily with O'Driscoll a few times. Did all he had to in defence as well, despite not having the bulk of the men he was tackling.
Stephen Jones 8 - Massive improvement on the first test. Kicking was pretty flawless throughout but it was his offload for Kearney's try that will linger longest in the memory. Set the tone for a spell-binding game.
Mike Phillips 7 - Still has an irritating habit of delaying his pass from time to time but overall, he was superb yesterday. Made a vital tackle on Habana just when the Boks were starting to crank up a comeback on the hour.
Gethin Jenkins 8 - Couldn't have done more, couldn't have given more. Went off injured after making a combined hit with O'Driscoll but will be most happy with the turnaround in dominance at scrum-time. The move to uncontested scrums
unquestionably helped the Boks.
Matthew Rees 7 - Actually wasn't all that fluent with his throws into the line-out but as with Jenkins can take plenty of credit for the resurrection of the front row.
Adam Jones 8 - Said during the week that he had 15 years of scrum experience whereas The Beast only had three. It showed. Took a defiant stand on their first defensive scrum and sapped the Springbok spirit from there on. The loss of
Him and Jenkins changed the game.
Simon Shaw 7 - Apart from the fact that he gave away two clumsy penalties, he had a mighty 80 minutes. Visibly tired as the game went on but only because of the effort he put in.
Paul O'Connell 8 - Fears that he would bear the brunt of any British media distaste should surely prove unfounded now. Led a team that stood up for itself and played scintillating stuff for the first 50 minutes and was only reeled in as it lost men to the bench. Got caught in possession occasionally but stole some great breakdown ball as well
Tom Croft 6 - Pulled off one incredible one-handed line-out take and put himself about the place with real physicality. Suffered when the South African back-row sprung into action.
David Wallace 7 - Brilliant game for an hour, making the hardest yards imaginable and scragging any amount breakdown ball. Juan Smith and Pierre Spies were the engine driving the Boks' comeback, however, as the Lions back row tired.
Jamie Heaslip 7 - Two tests gone and he's never once managed to get on the ball and get galloping like we know he can. Spies dominated the closing 20 minutes and Heaslip could do nothing about it.
Subs
Andrew Sheridan came on and off and on again and made a glorious nuisance of himself, carrying on a running battle with Bakkies Botha 6
Alun Wyn Jones tough on him coming on when the game was becoming so disjointed. Couldn't make much of an impact, apart from giving away a needless penalty 5
Ronan O'Gara not on very long but still had the misfortune to have a nightmare. Got run over for the South African try and gave away the penalty. Tough luck on him, hardly a fitting end to a brilliant year. 4
Shane Williams and Martyn Williams not on long enough to be rated.
Francois Steyn 6
JP Pietersen 6
Adrian Jacobs 7
Jean de Villiers 6
Bryan Habana 8
Ruan Pienaar 7
Fourie du Preez 8
Tendai Mtawarira 6
Bismarck du Plessis 7
John Smit 8
Bakkies Botha 6
Victor Matfield 7
Schalk Burger 6
Juan Smith 8
Pierre Spies 9
Subs
Jaque Fourie 5
Dries Bekker 6
Morne Steyn 8
Heinrich Brussow not on long enough to be rated
these ratings and comments are garbage. reads like a primary school report where everyone gets a 5 or better. could you be a bit more discriminatng or don;t bother!
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