The style of rugby employed by South Africa to demolish Argentina in their best performance of the season at Mbombela Stadium might be a solution to the place-kicking dilemma that remains for coach Rassie Erasmus after Manie Libbok’s five-star performance.
The changes to the Springbok game, towards a more ambitious attacking template to the conservatism of the past, and which was started out by Felix Jones and now accelerated since the arrival of Tony Brown, should lead a switch from the past, when a narrower win in a lower scoring game was aimed for and celebrated. It makes sense that when you are increasing your score in increments of five, as opposed to threes, as was the case in Nelspruit, then a missed kick here and there need not be quite the disaster that Libbok’s miss was in Santiago.
History now reflects that Libbok was retained after that miss and he dazzled with his wizardry at flyhalf as the Boks made sure of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship title with a blend of power, flair and creativity seldom seen from them before this season. Even this year we’ve seen it just in patches, as the growing pains continue.
The Pumas actually manned up and defended extremely well, all of which makes the Bok margin of victory more meritorious. There was a relentlessness to the South African attacking game that was always just going to see the visitors run out of defenders and concede scoreboard momentum to the hosts. Which duly happened.
Handre Pollard kicked crucial penalties not just to get the Boks through to their victory in last year’s World Cup in France, but also in the one before that in Japan. He coolly slotted a clutch kick in the closing minutes that edged out Wales in the semifinal and sent Siya Kolisi’s team through to the final, which was the game of that tournament most South Africans will remember more than any others.
LIBBOK PIVOTAL TO SUCCESSFUL ATTACK
Pollard is no mug in general play either, and he has his strengths. But would the Boks been able to be quite as scintillating on attack, and kick-started the scoreboard like they did, were it not for Libbok’s presence at pivot? The space created through Libbok’s passing game was obvious from the vantage point of the elevated press box at Mbombela and it had the effect of having the Pumas defenders floundering.
The Boks, with their ability to switch direction, always looked one step ahead of their opponents, and it was why the Pumas' resilience eventually crumbling was inevitable. And what other flyhalf in South Africa, indeed the world, has Libbok’s ability to look in one direction but then while doing that kick or pass in the opposite direction.
It’s that unpredictability that puts Libbok into the frame to not just be one of three flyhalves in the Bok plans, but the go-too man at 10 in a lot of games. He was that for most of the last World Cup, but was eventually jettisoned for the final after he struggled in the wet conditions against England in the semifinal. The tactical game demanded then suited Pollard better, and with similar conditions predicted for the final, and coach Rassie Erasmus going for the extreme 7/1 option when it came to mix between forwards and backs on the bench, Libbok’s omission from the team for the deciding game was understandable.
But the Boks may not have got as far as even the semifinal were it not for Libbok. France did everything they needed to do in the first half of the quarterfinal in terms of their attacking game. They scored three tries, which is not something the Bok defensive unit suffers often. The only problem for them was that the Boks stayed in the game by also scoring three.
While Pollard’s contribution with his place-kicking boot in the second half will be remembered as the key part of the drive to a one point win, the reality is that he probably wouldn’t have been in the position to kick for the win had Libbok’s creative presence not paid off in the first half.
AMBIDEXTROUSNESS
With the precociously talented young Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who like Libbok is also a Stormer and also has a lot of attacking flair to his game, making his mark from the outset of his first season in international rugby, and Pollard used as the alternate starter, Libbok’s time in the saddle has been limited this season. The Nelspruit game was his first start since the Portugal game in mid-July.
But he did take his opportunity with both hands and both feet, with his ambidextrousness coming very much to the fore, so here comes the next question: Does Erasmus retain him at flyhalf in the games against Scotland, England and Wales on the November tour, and if he does, what happens to the place-kicking?
The perception that Libbok thrived at Mbombela because he was relieved of the place-kicking duties may not be entirely accurate. The 26-year-old is not one of those players who lets if effect his all-round game if he misses a few place-kicks.
And we saw in the 2022 Vodacom United Rugby Championship semifinal for the Stormers against Ulster that going walkabout with his kicks does not mean he misses the crucial kicks. He kicked the last gasp winner that day from the touchline, and did it again a few seasons later in a famous Investec Champions Cup win over La Rochelle.
GOAL KICKING INCONSISTENCY CAN BE CURED
It is also true that goal-kicking unreliability doesn’t always last forever. Percy Montgomery used to miss a lot of kicks when he initially played for the Springboks, but in his second coming later on under Jake White he was the consummate example of reliability. And it is also true that South Africa has often players who had to take the kicks when they weren’t that consistent at it, and here Henry Honiball, the finest Bok flyhalf of the post-isolation era, and Andre Joubert, the best fullback, come to mind.
Sometimes you have to look at what the player will do for your attacking game, and the ability to raise the score in increments of five rather than just three, when you make your selection. Hence the logic behind Nick Mallett’s admission that he might have made a mistake by backing Jannie de Beer, the match winner of the 1999 quarterfinal against England, but mainly a kicking flyhalf, ahead of Honiball when the latter returned to fitness in time for the semifinal against the Wallabies.
It is true that Honiball asked Mallett to stick with De Beer because of what he’d done the week before, but you can also understand Mallett’s point. And this may be the dilemma now facing Erasmus. He did say after the Mbombela game that his team will have to wind back to a more conservative style, which they are capable of, as the autumn internationals may be played in damp conditions.
However, that’s not always the case, particularly not at Twickenham, where there has been some great attacking rugby in autumn over the years, with a memorable Bok example being the 42-6 win there in 2006, and a chastening memory being the 52-3 defeat in 2002. You don’t get those scores without ambition in the attacking game.
MBOMBELA SHOWED THE BENEFITS OF EVOLUTION
And this past Saturday’s game reminded us about the ben
efits of embarking on the attacking path the Boks are busy with evolving towards - if they consistently embrace the mix they did there they will end up with more one-sided scores in their favour than the close games that used to be celebrated and which left the Boks vulnerable to last minute penalty misses being a talking point.
With Feinberg-Mngomezulu certain to be absent because of injury, the November tour could see him continue with what he did at the weekend by starting Libbok and playing Pollard off the bench. But as we saw in Nelspruit, when Libbok is presented with front foot ball and an opportunity to bring all the different facets of the attacking game into the picture, the safety net of having a kicking metronome as a replacement becomes less necessary.
It will always be handy though to have someone else on the field who can take early kicks when needed, and that cues players like scrumhalf Jaden Hendriks, who took over the duties with some success but not without some misses of his own, and yes, Feinberg-Mngomezulu too when he is fit again. He prefers flyhalf, but he can also play fullback - and centre.
Which he may well find himself playing when he returns from injury in December or January to the Stormers set-up. Libbok is far more of a specialist 10 than he is so for the good of the team it would make sense for Stormers coach John Dobson to continue with Libbok’s style, which perfectly suits the Cape side, as the front to his attacking game.