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Girls be hating the fat boys

It’s no wonder the big boys up front have an inferiority complex when hitting the town with the backs after a game. We now have proof that the ladies have no time at all for the poor props who do all the donkey work so the rest of the team can shine.

Well if the Vodacom player rating tool is to be believed that is ...

Using the fun comparison tool, we can see that the fairer sex were exceptionally happy with Bryan Habana’s efforts against the USA on Thursday, giving him a solid 8.9 out of 10 for equalling Jonah Lomu’s World Cup try scoring record. And while the baby faced Lood de Jager did OK with a rating of 8.3, both props, Beast Mtawarira and Frans Malherbe (many an aficionado’s MVP), got miserable ratings of less than 6. This while every other player got ratings of over 7!

Well, at least they get paid the big bucks in France!

And to be fair to the ladies, Beast did also get the lowest overall rating form the public. And his 6.8 out of 10 was only marginally worse than Malherbe’s 7. Rounding off the podium you do not want to be on are Lwazi Mvovo and Bismarck du Plessis on a ranking of 7.1

The “Rate the Boks” section on the Vodacom Rugby site allows readers to rate all 23 Bok players, the coach and the referee after every game they play, which are then collated into a community average.

Scoring 8.8 out of 10 this week, Habana sits at the top of the pile this week, quite comfortably ahead of the man who got the official Man of the Match, centre Damien de Allende, who notched up a rating of 8.

It’s pretty tight between the two when comparing their match stats:

Bryan Habana: 3 tries, 9 carries, 3 clean breaks, 56 metres run, 1 turnover, 2 tackles, 1 defender beaten, 4 kicks caught, 1 knock on

Damien de Allende: 1 try, 1 try assist, 8 carries, 3 clean breaks, 50 metres run, 2 tackles, 8 defenders beaten, 1 offload, 5 passes, 1 knock on

I am guessing that it’s the tries that swayed the public vote …

It was a very different story amongst the experts, though! Joining me on this rating panel are Bok legends Rob Louw and Corne Krige, and while both De Allende (8.9) and Habana (8.6) feature highly in our more generous ratings, it’s Malherbe and flanker Francois Louw who come out tops on a rating of 9 out of 10.

On the other end of the scale amongst the experts, it’s Lwazi Mvovo who gets the lowest rating of 7, nudging out Willie le Roux (7.4) and Jesse Kriel (7.7).

Amongst the substitutes, the experts had Trevor Nyakane and Rudy Paige (on 8.2) making the biggest impact, while the community gave Schalk Brits (on 7.2) the nod.

Coach Heyneke Meyer got a solid 7.6 from the community, much better than last week, while the experts rated him 7.3 out of 10, also up on last week. Here’s hoping the highly strung manager is now getting a little more sleep than he did post the Brighton fiasco.

And again no real controversy regarding the man in the middle. Referee Pascal Gauzere had a solid game with whistle in hand, as is borne out by the ratings. He was rated 7.1 by the community, while the experts rated him 7.4 out of 10.

The highs and lows according to the experts:

Corne Krige: High – De Jager, Louw and Habana (9.5), Low – Le Roux (7.5)

Rob Louw: High – De Jager (9.7), Low – Bismarck du Plessis (7.3)

Tank Lanning: High – Vermeulen (9), Low – Mvovo and Le Roux (6.5)

A few fun comparisons using the comparisontool:

Males: High – Habana (8.8), Low – Mvovo (7)

Females: High – Habana (8.8), Low – Malherbe (5.3)

Under 20: High – Habana, De Allende, Pollard (8.3), Low – Mtawarira and Malherbe (5.3)

Over 50: High – Habana and De Allende (8.9), Low – Mtawarira (6.9)

Bulls fans: High – Habana (8.8), Low – Mvovo (6.6)

Stormers fans: High – Habana (8.6), Low – Bismarck (6.8)

Click here to see all the latest ratings.

Click here to compare various ratings like those of the experts vs other experts or your own ratings, the ladies vs the guys, or perhaps the under 20’s vs the over 60’s.

WIN – Rate the Boks or share your Bok rating on Twitter or Facebook, and you could WIN one of 4 Samsung GALAXY A3 smart phones.

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