Not a great deal of standouts to choose from this week, particularly with Argentina playing so badly and the Eagles hardly any better. Here is the team of the week.
1 – Tony Woodcock (New Zealand) The old veteran didn’t worry too much about the new scrum engagement and just got on with getting the job done.
2 – Adriaan Strauss (South Africa) Another game, another first class performance. What a luxury to have Bismarck du Plessis on the bench.
3 – Owen Franks (New Zealand) A couple signature bone-rattlers and a tidy enough performance. Edges Jannie du Plessis who fared well in Johannesburg.
4 – Rob Simmons (Australia) One of his better performances for his country. Abrasive at the breakdown and competitive at the lineout.
5 – Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) Excellent shift in the engine room. Made plenty of tackles and supported well.
6 – Steven Luatua (New Zealand) Flew a bit under the radar but did everything that could have been asked of him in his run-on debut. Onwards and upwards.
7 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand) The return of the king. ‘Nuff said.
8 – Duane Vermeulen (South Africa) Powerful stuff from the big man. His penchant for getting stuck into the dirty work is why many prefer him to Pierre Spies.
9 – Phil Mack (Canada) Good shifts from Aaron Smith, Will Genia, and a certain Fourie du Preez, but the 7s maestro was outstanding, scoring a brilliant individual try and making a nuisance of himself at the fringes.
10 – Aaron Cruden (New Zealand) All-around excellence from Dan Carter’s understudy. An inspiration to small flyhalves around the world.
11 – D.T.H. van der Merwe (Canada) No obvious choices here, so the gas man playing on the wing this week gets the nod for a subdued but professional performance. Let’s hope he’s back at centre next week.
12 – Christian Leali’ifano (Australia) Kicked 19 points and played well in the face of the All Black onslaught. Honourable mention to Jean de Villiers for his role in the demolition derby at FNB Stadium.
13 – Conrad Smith (New Zealand) The gold standard for outside centres. Straightens the line as well as any and makes the job look easy.
14 – Ben Smith (New Zealand) Three tries and not a foot wrong. Classy player with a good rugby brain on him, he keeps Bryan Habana out of the side.
15 – Willie le Roux (South Africa) Made the Pumas pay almost every time they kicked towards him. Almost the complete opposite of Zane Kirchner.
