Cape Town – It has been great to see Manie Libbok’s exploits for the Stormers in recent weeks. Correction: in recent seasons.
Yes, it hasn’t just been during the quarter-final and semi-final – where he was the Man of the Match in both games – that the 25-year-old pivot from Humansdorp has excelled for his franchise.
He has been one of the main reasons why the Cape outfit won their first ever major title last season, and that they find themselves in a second successive United Rugby Championship final.
Some of the magical things that Libbok does on a rugby field takes me back to what Peter de Villiers used to tell me about his star SA Under-21 flyhalf Isma-eel Dollie, “Daai kan jy nie coach nie (You can’t coach that)”, whenever Dollie produced something special on the pitch.
Stormers coach John Dobson would be the first to acknowledge that the kinds of things Libbok is able to come up with in high-pressure situations is sheer individual brilliance – like that one sidestep and line-break he produced to get himself out of the 22 against Connacht last weekend.
Or that inch-perfect cross-kick for Angelo Davids’ try. Or running a wide support line to finish off a thrilling touchdown after Davids bumped off a Connacht defender and spun the ball to his left.
Or running a perfect support line to round off a devastating counter-attack from a quick lineout throw-in…
Of course, the overall mindset or “game model” that the Stormers adopt encourages Libbok to have a go, but you must still have the confidence and skill-set to unlock the defence, and the Stormers pivot has it in bucketloads.
And he gave us a glimpse into “the world that Manie Libbok lives in” at Test level too last November, when in a five-minute Springboks debut, he delivered a superb final kickoff that gave Damian Willemse the chance to win the ball back as the 14-man world champions chased an unlikely victory as the French were 30-26 ahead.
Libbok then sent the ball down the line, and eventually Makazole Mapimpi was tackled and referee Wayne Barnes failed to penalise French wing Yoram Moefana for playing the ball from an offside position at the ruck.
Libbok proved again that he can handle the pressure at international level a week later when he sparked a second-half onslaught as a replacement, having entered the Italy game with SA up 23-16, and the Springboks ended up winning 63-21.
So, I am ready to have the real Springboks flyhalf conversation: Manie Libbok or Handre Pollard?
I have been become a bit irritated by the narrative in some quarters that any possible Manie Libbok selection for the Rugby World Cup is down to a debate between the Stormers No 10 and Elton Jantjies – who is languishing in the French second division – and that we can’t possibly think that Manie Libbok should actually start ahead of Pollard in France.
This is no slight on Handre Pollard at all. After a difficult few years battling injury, the World Cup winner has been in fine form for Leicester in recent weeks. At his best, he has proven to be a match-winner over and over again – that last penalty against Wales in the 2019 World Cup semi-final was a thing of beauty.
But just last week, Handre Pollard was withdrawn shortly before Leicester’s English Premiership semi-final against Sale with a calf injury, and his team went down 21-13.
Apart from the injury concerns, Pollard is a solid operator who knows his way around the Test arena. The 29-year-old Springboks vice-captain has 65 caps to his name, and his size and boot make him an asset on defence especially, and as a ball-carrier on attack.
But he doesn’t have the soft skills that Manie Libbok offers in his passing or kicking game, or the speed to cut defences to shreds.
You could argue that the Boks prefer someone like Pollard because of their percentage game-plan, but is that style enough to win the 2023 Rugby World Cup?
The evidence from the four-match November tour to Europe last year suggests that Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber wants to expand the horizons of his team’s attacking prowess, which is why he picked Damian Willemse as the starting No 10 in all four games against Ireland, France, Italy and England.
Willemse – who is better suited to inside centre and fullback – is the ultimate jack-in-the-box who is quite similar in many respects to Libbok, but is more of a strike-runner than a playmaker.
The same can be said about Pollard, while Libbok is able to do both roles naturally.
Sure, some people would say it’s a risk to have an inexperienced starting flyhalf like Manie Libbok at a World Cup – and that is true to some extent. But what if he is the better player?
The only way we can find that out is to start Manie Libbok in the Springboks No 10 jersey, at least in all the Rugby Championship matches...
@ashfakmohamed