All the talk about Manie Libbok being the next flyhalf off the rank into the Springbok team could be a bit fanciful if you have watched the national team play in recent times, with the DHL Stormers flyhalf hardly confirming to the required template.
Given that he can also play fullback and is the ideal man to have on the field when you are chasing late in a game, it would appear that if Libbok is to become a Bok, it would be most likely to happen as a specialist impact substitute rather than as a starting flyhalf option.
However, many of the perceptions about Libbok are inspired by past history, and there is one thing about the players who play under John Dobson for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship title holders - they do tend to grow as players and they do prove that leopards can change their spots.
To some extent it did happen that way for Libbok last season. Almost every week the doom merchants were out predicting “Now we will see him spit the dummy, now we will see he can’t play under pressure”.
TWO REALLY HORRIBLE GAMES
And to be fair to Libbok’s detractors, when the 25-year-old has a poor game, he has a spectacularly horrible game. It happened twice last season, once in Durban in the drawn game against the Sharks, where the Stormers were well behind during the time Libbok was on the field. The pressure there was that he was playing against his former team at his former home stadium.
Then came the pressure of the semifinal against Ulster, and also the previous week’s quarterfinal against Edinburgh, where he also misfired slightly. The semifinal was of course a weird game for Libbok, for had the Stormers not won, the headline writers would have pinpointed Libbok’s performance as one of the reasons.
His place-kicking was poor, his field kicking was poor, his decision-making was poor, he as a player was just all over the place. He definitely did not look like a Springbok in that instance, and the game appeared to provide confirmation he can’t handle the pressure you have to face down at international level.
But then came that dramatic ending, when he had to convert Warrick Gelant’s try from the touchline to confirm the Stormers’ advance to the final rather than have the game go into a potentially perilous period of extra time. Against the odds, if you consider how he had battled with much easier attempts earlier, he nailed it.
And then onto the final against the Vodacom Bulls, where Libbok showed little susceptibility to pressure in a come-from-behind winning effort and showed he had perhaps made a breakthrough with that late pressure kick the previous week.
HARD WORK PAYING OFF
The bottom line for all rugby players who have perceived weaknesses in their game or in their temperament though is that nothing can’t be sorted out through proper hard work, and the reason we reference Libbok’s perceived weaknesses as history is because they may well be that due to the hard work he says he has been putting in.
There have been several aspects of his game that have gone up a level in the early part of this new URC season, field kicking being a primary one. And while Sacha Mngomezulu took over the place-kicking duties in the win over Zebre in Parma last week, that is another aspect of his game that has improved.
“That’s something I worked really hard on during the pre-season,” said Libbok in an online press conference this week.“I want to get maximum distance on my kicks, especially when kicking for touch, giving us the best-possible chance to score. I worked hard with our kicking coach [Gareth Wright] and I’m just happy it is paying off.”
SACHA KICKED TO RELIEVE PRESSURE ON MANIE’S KNEE
It is indeed, with the decision to give the kicking duties to Mngomezulu in Italy down to stress he has placed on his right knee.
“I just felt that it would be better for me not to kick in the game. I have full confidence in Sacha and he did very well. It’s not serious. Last week there was some discomfort in the knee and I didn’t want to put pressure on it. At the moment it feels very good.”
Those pushing for Libbok’s inclusion in the Bok squad for the end of year tour are forgetting that the Bulls’ Johan Goosen is in fact the next cab off the rank and that there has been no announcement that Elton Jantjies, who really should be wearing the No10 when Handre Pollard is injured, is not available to tour.
There’s also of course Libbok’s Stormers teammate Damian Willemse, who did well in the pivot role for the Boks before his concussion and could be pressed to continue there if needed. Coach Jacques Nienaber has shown a reluctance to go outside of the established group, and that reluctance could well continue while there are other options available.
STILL HARBOURS THE DREAM
However, while Libbok, who has profited by being backed so strongly by Dobson since his move to the Stormers after being in and out of teams previously at the Bulls and Sharks, says he is focused only on helping his franchise win at present, he still harbours a burning desire to become a Springbok.
“At the moment, I am just trying to control what I can control and that’s to do my very best for the Stormers and this jersey and that is to put out the best performance for the team. Everything else will take care of itself. It always has been and still is my dream to play for the Boks one day, and if the time comes, I’d be grateful for that opportunity.”