SECOND-ROW:
4. Franco Mostert (South Africa)
Rugby Pass 8/10: “The highest tackling South African with 11 hits made. He was a constant disruptor of the Scottish line-out and was ever present at the ruck. A solid game from a man in top form.”
The Telegraph 8/10: “An important cog for the champions. Charged down Russell immediately and latched on to shunt over Du Toit.”
The South African 8/10: “A workhorse if ever there was one. Mostert just toiled away as he usually does without setting a foot wrong.”
5. Will Rowlands (Wales)
Wales Online 8/10: “An outstanding defensive performance. Showed his intent right from the start as he won an early penalty and thwarted Fiji time and time again as he made an astonishing 24 tackles over the course of the game. Made a key intervention as he forced Botia into spilling the ball as he bore down on the line. Huge shift.”
Honourable mentions: Maro Itoje (England), Scott Barrett (New Zealand), Joe McCarthy (Ireland), Amato Fakatava (Japan)
BACK-ROW:
6. Courtney Lawes (England)
RUCK 9/10: “Captain fantastic, Lawes never lets England down.”
Rugby Pass 10/10: “It could have all gone south for England with their ropey red card start but Lawes was kryptonite to Argentina when leading by example in the game-deciding opening stanza. His two turnover penalty wins, especially the one that had Julian Montoya penalised with Argentina attacking off a tapped penalty near the line, were massive momentum swings.”
Honourable mentions: Francois Cros (France), Michael Leitch (Japan), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), Siya Kolisi (South Africa)
7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa)
Rugby Pass 9/10: “Sensational. The best player in the world when he plays like that. Tackled anything that moved and harassed Scotland’s backline to the point that it looked like a shadow of itself. Brilliant. Do that six more times and the Boks will have a serious shot at another World Cup.”
Planet Rugby 8/10: “Showed why he was the World Rugby Player of the Year in 2019 as he made his mark with an industrious performance.”
Honourable mentions: Peter O’Mahony (Ireland)
8. Gregory Alldritt (France)
Planet Rugby 9/10: “An immense effort of carrying, tackling and breakdown excellence. He is some player.”
Rugby Pass 9/10: “An immense performance from the standout player on the park, Alldritt worked hard throughout with multiple strong carries, a brilliant turnover and in general he showed why he’s started eight of nine of France’s latest games.”
Honourable mention: Ben Earl (England), Viliame Mata (Fiji)