Four nines for Marx, and a man of the match nobody agrees on

Player ratings are opinions with numbers attached, so RUGBE gathered seven sets of them: the NZ Herald's, from both sides of the ledger, RugbyPass and Planet Rugby's pairs, The Citizen's Springbok marks from Johannesburg, and Ruck's partial card from the UK. Read together, they tell you what everyone agrees on about the third Test, and where the two countries watched two different games.

The one thing nobody disputes

Malcolm Marx got a 9 from every outlet that scored him: NZ Herald, RugbyPass, Planet Rugby and The Citizen. The reigning World Rugby Player of the Year threw a perfect lineout, won breakdown penalties at the moments the Springboks needed oxygen, and finished the 20-metre maul try that turned a tight game into a chase. Planet Rugby's Jared Wright called it "a masterclass in hooker play" and noted the standing ovation Soweto gave him when he left. The Citizen settled for "Simply superb". When a hooker is the best player in a Test between these two nations, the game usually went the way this one did.

Behind him came the scrum. Wilco Louw took an 8.5 from RugbyPass, 8s from The Citizen and Planet Rugby, and a 9 from the NZ Herald, with penalties timestamped at 16 and 50 minutes. Ox Nche was an 8 across the board. Jesse Kriel's 40-metre burst for the lead try earned him 8s from three outlets. And the Citizen handed Morne van den Berg a 9 for his 36 minutes off the bench: "What an impact."

The man of the match nobody agrees on

The official award went to wing Ethan Hooker, and here the outlets split cleanly along national lines. RugbyPass gave him 8.5 for a vital 25th-minute turnover and dominance in the air. The Citizen gave him 8 for a "superb outing". Planet Rugby, 8.

The NZ Herald gave him 5, and called the award "inexplicable", counting five turnovers lost and five missed tackles, both the most of any player on the field. Both things can be true of a wing who plays that much ball, which is rather the point of ratings: they are an argument, and this one is the argument of the week.

The widest spread of all belonged to Pieter-Steph du Toit. The Herald scored him 9, "constant threat, key turnovers". His own country's Citizen gave him 6, reckoning he "hasn't quite hit his straps". RugbyPass (7.5) and Planet Rugby (7) split the difference.

The All Blacks' card

| Player | NZ Herald | RugbyPass | Planet Rugby | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Ardie Savea | 8 | 7.5 | 8 | | Jordie Barrett | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | | Wallace Sititi | 8 | 7.5 | not scored | | Cam Roigard | 7 | 8 | 7 | | Will Jordan | 6 | 6.5 | 8 | | Ruben Love | 4 | 5 | 6 | | Leroy Carter | 5 | 6 | 4 | | George Bower | 5 | 5 | 4 | | Tyrel Lomax | 4 | 5 | 4 | | Fletcher Newell | 4 | 4 | not scored |

Savea's numbers were built in 30 minutes: two tries, a team-high eight carries at the point he left, and every outlet noting the game changed with his shoulder. Jordie Barrett's game-high 14 tackles anchored his marks. Wallace Sititi, on early for the injured captain, was the Herald's "most impactful bench player", with a strip turnover and a late line break with nobody home in support.

Will Jordan is the enigma of the card. Planet Rugby saw a player who "oozed class", 12 carries, two line breaks and a beautifully weighted chip for his try, and gave him 8. The Herald and RugbyPass saw the same game plus four turnovers conceded, the kick he put dead at a critical moment, and the poor clearing kick before a Springbok score, and gave him 6 and 6.5. Both cards are honest.

The bottom of the table is where the Test was lost. Ruben Love's marks (4, 5, 6) carry the Herald's brutal arithmetic: "seven missed points ultimately proved the difference" in a five-point defeat, alongside the yellow card and sliced touch-finders. Ruck's UK card agreed, making him their worst-rated All Black at 5 because he "never really managed to get the All Blacks' attack flowing". And the front row's numbers, Bower 4-5, Lomax 4-5, Newell a flat 4, are what five consecutive scrum penalties and a penalty try look like when converted to single digits. Planet Rugby's line on Bower: Louw was "monstrous" against him.

Two half-marks of sympathy: Tupou Vaa'i marked his 50th cap with a night he will want back under the high ball, a dropped restart and a spilled goal-line dropout inside his 5-6 range, and Quinn Tupaea led the haka, carried with real venom, then left on a damaged knee.

The Boks' quiet ones

Ratings cut both ways. Eben Etzebeth's 5s and 6s reflect one carry and five tackles in 56 minutes, a strangely peripheral night by his standards, though The Citizen credited an important lineout steal. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu's card ran 5 to 7: an early yellow for the deliberate knock-down and an error-strewn first half, redeemed by accurate goal-kicking when the game tightened. Cobus Reinach was hooked shortly after halftime, and Planet Rugby's 5 said why.

The composite picture is the match in miniature. South Africa's best players were their tight five and their bench. New Zealand's best were a captain who lasted half an hour, a fullback-turned-defensive-anchor, and the loose forward who replaced the captain. The series has one Test left to decide which of those profiles wins a trophy.