INSIDER: Manie Libbok - a triumph for hard work and soft skills

There was an incident in the deciding game of the league phase of last year’s Vodacom Super Rugby season that may be the perfect explanation of why Manie Libbok has succeeded at the DHL Stormers where he was perceived to have failed elsewhere.

It was the third quarter of the match against Scarlets at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli. The Stormers were playing for the South African Shield trophy - it was before they even dreamed of going the whole way to the main title itself - and needed to win to be sure of the silverware. Scarlets were picking up momentum in a close game and had the Stormers camped in their own territory.

Wave after wave of Scarlets attack was resisted, and then a wave of relief swept through the Stormers coaching box as Steven Kitshoff forced a turnover penalty. It was deep in his own half, and it was a much-needed chance to exit. All it would take was for Manie Libbok to kick the ball into touch downfield and the Stormers would have a lineout throw far away from their own line.

Only it didn’t work out like that, as good mates Libbok and Warrick Gelant somehow saw an opportunity to take the least expected option. It didn’t work out, and the Scarlets ended up with a lineout in exactly the position that Kitshoff had won the penalty.

Stormers coach John Dobson was livid. He pumped his fists in frustration and then grabbed at his walkie-talkie and barked a series of expletives that he wanted his people on the touchline to pass on to Libbok.

Only the off-field plan turned out even worse than the on-field play from Libbok and Gelant had, and instead of a message of admonishment going out to the players, Dobson’s tizzy fit became hot air just drifting into the void of empty space around him. The talk button of the walkie-talkie wasn’t on.

“That was an occasion where I was really pleased that what I had intended didn’t work out,” recalls Dobson.

“We went on to settle and win the game in an exciting finish, with Manie excelling in the pressure moments. He came to me afterwards and thanked me. He told me ‘You guys not kakking me out for that really meant a lot to me’. And that is Manie. He knew he’d done wrong, and didn’t need to be told. He’s a player who needs to be backed and thrives when he is, he needs to feel loved.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOFT SKILLS

The love Dobson refers to is the product of what former Proteas cricket captain Faf du Plessis, in his excellent book ‘Faf: Through Fire’ (published by flyleaf and in the book shops now), refers to as soft skills. You can buy top players, but you can’t buy culture, and Dobson’s man management has created magic at a Stormers franchise that doesn’t have the financial clout of some rivals.

It was while Libbok was thriving after being thrown in at the deep end as a talented but callow 20-year-old at the Bulls by their then coach John Mitchell that Dobson first spotted the skills and potential he liked in 2018. Mitchell, now the assistant coach of Japan after serving a similar role at England under Eddie Jones, knew even in those embryonic days of Libbok’s career that in order for him to succeed, he’d require the kind of management and coaching he’s received at the Stormers.

“Manie was a really talented player and his skill set was obvious, he was a lovely young man, but it was clear he needed to know that he had a coach that cares for him,” recalled Mitchell when contacted in London this week.

Mitchell did give him that care back in 2018, as is evident from a press quote he gave after Libbok’s Super Rugby debut for the Bulls against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires. The Bulls had lost 54-24, mainly because they were mauled at forward, but Mitchell set Libbok aside for special mention.

“Manie did very well under the circumstances. I was very happy with what he produced for us. Unfortunately the forwards let him down on the night, but that did not deter him, and that is very encouraging. He is definitely a player with a very bright future,” said Mitchell after the Buenos Aires game.

MITCHELL’S DEPARTURE SET MANIE BACK

That he didn’t kick on immediately may be down to Mitchell’s decision to depart the Bulls, something that sportswriter Ken Borland, writing in The Citizen, predicted might not work for Libbok.

That followed an interview Libbok gave after a Currie Cup game in Bloemfontein, where the Bulls won with only 40 per cent possession, confirmed Libbok’s progress as a flyhalf, a position that he only started playing for the Bulls when Mitchell arrived.

The previous year, he’d played fullback for the Bulls in the domestic competition, before Mitchell promoted him to Super Rugby.

“I’m definitely very happy at flyhalf, it’s my No 1 position and I think I offer more there because I want the ball in my hands,” said Libbok.

“What we are chasing is getting the ball in space and putting our forwards on the front foot. If you can get go-forward ball then you’re always in the game. The kicking game is very important. I’ve been working very hard on my basics and all-round game and making sure I sharpen up my skills. John Mitchell gave me a lot of help, he taught me a lot I didn’t know about the game. He had confidence in me, I think because I learnt quite quickly, and he backed me to do the job, for which I’m very grateful.”

Libbok was never again backed in the same way, either at the Bulls or following his subsequent move to the Sharks. But Dobson was prepared to give him that backing, which was why the Stormers worked so hard to get the product of Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape to move to Cape Town.

“Manie has never bad mouthed anybody, is just not that kind of guy, but I think his problem at the Bulls and the Sharks was just lack of playing,” says Dobson.

“Manie comes from a tough background financially, and he felt vulnerable and just wanted to be backed. He was quite dramatically insecure when came to us, and it was all about telling him you playing next week. With Manie you never go back correctively and tell him he did something wrong. If he is properly confident he is imperious.

“Before he came to us, the only person who really supported him was Mitch. It was when I saw him play for Mitch at the Bulls, and Mitch’s endorsement of Manie at that time, that I recognised Manie’s special talents.

“When he played for the Bulls they started flattening their attack, and his interchanging with Warrick (Gelant) was magical. In fact it was uncanny. There was on game in particular where they put away a big New Zealand team, I think it was the Hurricanes, where Manie and Warrick were slotting in as first receivers and they just about won the game for the Bulls all on their own.”

DEVELOPING TWO HALVES TO MAKE A WHOLE

Mitchell recalled that when he arrived at the Bulls, he was told that Libbok would never make it because although he had attacking talent, he couldn’t tackle. Mitchell resolved to do what a coach should do, which is coach the player to iron out his weaknesses, and that was where his relationship with Libbok sparked.

“I had some discussions with Manie on how we could work together to make him a better tackler, which would also give him confidence,” said Mitchell.

“Because I opened that door for him, he flourished a bit more. A player struggles with confidence when he is judged on the fact he can’t tackle, and it means it will take him longer to make it. His attacking skill set was always evident, that was why I selected him at flyhalf. He had all the attributes.

“The hardest thing though for a smaller back is finding a way to stop the opposition momentum in the frontline, and also in the back field, where a 45-degree tackle is a difficult thing for a guy to pull off, one-on-one is blimming hard for them. He did start working very hard on those aspects and started to develop towards becoming a player who can bring both halves of what a rugby player is selected to do.”

THE QUINTESSENTIAL MODERN FLYHALF

Mitchell is impressed with what he has seen from Libbok since his move to the Cape.

“His decision making is definitely a lot better, as it would be as he matures, and he’s a lot calmer, but it is really good to see him throwing himself in front of people. Some of the smaller guys are just speed bumps but he has found a way,” said Libbok’s former coach.

“Seeing him play at the moment is a real thrill for me. He looks like he has got physically stronger, and his ability to see space in attack is clear for all to see, as is his phenomenal skill set when it comes to the core things for a flyhalf of run, pass and kick.”

It was Libbok’s ability to do those three things close to the gainline that Dobson decided he wanted at the Stormers.

“The Marcus Smith (England No 10) type of flyhalf is the way the modern game is going, you need a guy who can take the ball at the line and play flat, make the decision on whether to kick, pass or run in a split second with the defenders on top of him, rather than a player who plays from the pocket,” explains Dobson.

“Manie has that ability, and he also has the rare ability of being able to kick equally well with both feet. That makes him a real handful for the defending team and brings all your own attacking players into the game.”

PACE IS KEY

Mitchell, who texted Libbok when he was called up for his debut and watched Libbok’s sublime performance as a replacement against Italy last week in Toulouse, where Japan were about to play France, reckons Libbok’s pace is key to what makes him such a potent attacking weapon.

“To be fair, when I worked with Manie in 2018, I knew he had potential, but I wasn’t looking at him necessarily becoming a top international player, I thought he’d just become a really good provincial player,” said Mitchell.

“He is very quick, so he can easily cut your defence in half when he does his show and go, so as a defending team you are constantly engaged by him. His kicking has come on a lot, he has really developed the other core aspects of flyhalf play, and what I like about him watching from afar is that he appears to have become fearless. He looks in a good space, he doesn’t look like a player now who’d go back into his shell when he makes a mistake.”

LEARNING TO COPE WITH PRESSURE

That latter aspect of Libbok’s growth is explained by another man who has played a key role in Libbok’s rise from the point where he was struggling to make it at franchise/provincial level to being in the Bok match-day squad at Twickenham on Saturday, Stormers kicking coach Gareth Wright.

“He’s found an ability to flush the bad moments and focus on the next play,” Wright explained.

“His ability to deal with pressure was always the question mark over him when he was at other unions. The big question was always can he learn to deal with the pressure and kick on from where he was as an unbelievable talent at school level? Well, he’s found a way. He’s done that by refining his process and working out what works and what doesn’t.”

Wright reckons not enough credit is given to Dobson for his man management skills, the aforementioned soft skills that contribute not only to Libbok’s development but also the superb team culture at the Stormers, while the technical skills of assistant coaches Dawie Snyman (attack) and Norman Laker (defence) have also played big roles.

But if you ask Dobson, he will tell you that Wright is the man that Libbok has really gelled with since arriving at the Stormers.

“I think we have pretty similar outlooks, and a passion for kicking as well as a competitiveness to be the best and to meet the challenge of trying to get the best out of each other. I think we are really fortunate to have come across each other and he has responded really well to what I have tried to teach him,” says the Stormers kicking coach.

Part of that success is rooted in Libbok’s obsessive nature and, not to put too fine point on it, perhaps his workaholism.

“He challenges me, particularly in the beginning, he challenged me a lot. He debates things, unlike some guys who get told what to do and then perhaps apply it in a robotic way. He would ask me why we were doing certain things, he’d want to analyse the methodology, the fundamentals of what we want to do and how we intend to get there. We galvanised each other and it has helped us get unbelievable results.

“His success rate with the boot was in the mid-50 per cent range when he got here, I told him my standard is 80 plus. He agreed he would not meet me halfway, he’d get to that level, and he knew it would only come about if he worked harder. He worked hard in lots of areas, but his biggest work was in his kicking game. And the great thing was it all came from him.

“He was also very engaged with the process in field kicking, things like how and when and where to manipulate the opposition back field. He has an unbelievable ability to kick equally well off either foot, which makes it incredibly difficult for the opposition back three.”

BEING A RUGBY ANORAK HAS BROUGHT PROFESSIONALISM

Libbok’s sharp upward trajectory on his performance graph has surprised Wright in some ways, but because of his work ethic, he is not completely surprised.

“Manie has found a mechanism to deal with the pressure and he is now at a point where he enjoys and relishes the pressure,” says Wright. “We try to create scenarios to simulate pressure, but an obvious example was that conversion from the touchline, under massive pressure, that he slotted against Ulster to put us into last year’s Grand Final.

“He then went on from that to do things in the final itself, such as kicking a drop-goal, which was something he hadn’t done before. It is those sorts of nuances that separate the great players from the average.”

Wright says he has never come across a player who works harder at his game than Libbok does, and by all accounts his focus on rugby is a step above most of his peers.

“We’ve been lucky in a way at the Stormers with how we have almost without knowing we were doing it recruited players who have added to the professionalism of our culture,” says Dobson.

“Maybe at the Stormers we had issues in the old days that we had great players and great guys, but we lacked a bit of professionalism in the sense that we didn’t have guys who talked only about rugby. Some of the outsiders who have come in, Manie and Warrick being prime examples, but also Marvin Orie, just talk about rugby, it’s like they don’t have any other lives.

“We call them rugby anoraks, we call them rugby 'whores', because if you ask Manie about how his weekend went, he’d talk about how he’d watched the Six Nations games and had spotted trends that are developing in the back field approach of some of the teams.”

According to Mitchell, that was something that was already very much part of the Manie Libbok persona when he was first starting out in top level rugby four and a half years ago.

“He has a genuine love for rugby, for the sport itself and all its facets, which is something that I find very uncommon with this generation, where you often come across players who are prepared to watch snippets of games, but there are very few who study it and live it with the passion that Manie does,” said the well-travelled former All Black coach.