With the second weekend of this year’s Rugby Championship now in the books, Two Cents Rugby has picked his five best players of a captivating round.
The YouTube star has gone for three players all of whom wore the same jersey number over the weekend as it was a round where the number 14s stood out.
Elsewhere, there’s two forwards included so without further ado, here is who Two Cents picked as his top five from Round Two of the Rugby Championship.
Will Jordan (New Zealand)
The All Blacks right winger missed the trip to Argentina, but didn’t look at all off the pace against South Africa. If anything, he seemed more energised and keener to get into the action.
He was involved in so many of the All Blacks’ attacking plays and it showed stats wise, with Jordan finishing the game with 12 carries and seven passes, getting the team going forward.
He helped set up or finish multiple tries in Auckland. His own crossing he scored from a cross-kick, but prior to that he had set up Aaron Smith’s try and it was Jordan’s initial break and pass which led to the Shannon Frizell try.
Four clean breaks and seven defenders beaten shows just how much of a handful he was for the Springbok defenders. As much as it would be nice to see him get a run at full-back, it was great seeing him in that kind of form on the wing.
Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa)
Of all the Springboks who travelled to New Zealand early, winger Kolbe certainly looked the sharpest.
Denied a first-half try in an aerial battle with Beauden Barrett, Kolbe managed to get one in the second, powering down the right wing and diving over the line.
With Faf de Klerk heading off, Kolbe was also called to kick for goal and nailed the first one before he was unlucky with the second hitting the post.
Aside from his finishing, he carried and defended well as he ended the match with nine carries that included a couple of clean breaks and three tackles broken.
He also had some great defensive reads, the most impressive of which was a seemingly out of nowhere tackle on Jordan, who had just gone past Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi early in the second half.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Springbok coaches choose to give the Arendse and Kolbe wing experiment another try.
Shannon Frizell (New Zealand)
The most impressive half of rugby we’ve seen from the All Blacks blindside in his Test career so far. Here in New Zealand he has been compared to both Jerome Kaino and Jonah Lomu in some quarters with his play in those first 40 minutes.
Frizell beat nine defenders beaten in the first half alone, the most of any player this week. The bust through Willie le Roux for his try in the 15th minute being the most noteworthy of them all.
He gave away a silly high tackle penalty on Jasper Wiese, but almost immediately made up for it, winning a penalty at the breakdown. His 12 tackles also made him the top defender for the All Blacks this week as well.
A bit quieter in the second half as the game evened out, but Frizell had already made his mark.
Mark Nawaqanitawase (Australia)
The Wallabies flyer continues the theme of right wingers who hadn’t played in Round One impressing in Round Two.
Coming in for Suliasi Vunivalu, Nawaqanitawase couldn’t have done much more to convince Eddie Jones he’s the man for the 14 jersey going forward.
His 75th minute try was the moment which looked to have won the game for Australia and was pretty much a 14-point play as the Pumas were looking likely to score if not for the intervention.
He backed himself earlier in the game when taking a quick tap to keep the Wallabies attack moving, which led to the Len Ikitau try as well.
On a night which finished disappointingly for Australia, his performance was at least one thing to be happy about for Wallabies supporters.
Brodie Retallick (New Zealand)
Back into the All Blacks starting line-up after missing out on Round One, ‘Guzzler’ showed why he’s one of the most complete locks in world rugby.
It wasn’t as flashy as some of the wingers on this list, but it was certainly an important part of the All Blacks performance.
As a ball carrier, Retallick showed a real point of difference, clocking up 37 run metres – the next best starting lock had 14. On the flipside he defended well, making eight of his nine tackles as well as pinching one of the Springbok line-out throws. He was New Zealand’s top line-out man on five takes and showed huge work rate across the 80 minutes.
His partnership with either Scott Barrett or Sam Whitelock will be key for Ian Foster’s men in France.
READ MORE: Rugby Championship: Five takeaways from All Blacks v Springboks clash as Rugby World Cup marker thrown down
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