Bok coach backs Manie Libbok’s kicking to come right

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has backed misfiring pivot Manie Libbok to come right ahead of the World Cup in France, despite his recent goal kicking woes.

After starting the season decently Libbok has struggled in his past two Bok games, which has sparked concerns going into the showpiece event in France, which is now less than three weeks away.

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In his two starts in the Rugby Championship Libbok was in decent form, slotting four out of five shots at goal against the Wallabies at Loftus and three out of four against Argentina at Ellis Park.

However, in his past two games, World Cup warm-up clashes against Argentina in Buenos Aires and against Wales in Cardiff, his strike rate has fallen dramatically with him only converting five out of nine shots at goal in each game, leaving him with just 10 successful kicks out of his last 18 at posts.

‘Happy where Manie is’

The biggest worry about these misses is that a number of them were very kickable and should have been converted, while some of the others were from the touchline which is harder to convert.

But despite this, Nienaber believes that Libbok’s attacking threat outweighs his kicking struggles, which he can still work on.

“We are happy where Manie is. If a hooker misses four lineouts, because it’s a specialist skill for the world to see, like lineout throwing, like the high ball and like kicking for poles. I think it (his struggles) gets amplified a little bit more,” explained Nienaber.

“But we are very happy where he is. We would prefer having him create eight tries for us and then work on his goal kicking than not have him in the side.”

Exciting link up

With the Boks taking on the All Blacks in their final World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham on Friday night, fans will be excited to see Libbok and Damian Willemse link up on the international stage again, with Willemse starting at fullback as he did against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Both players have played together at national and franchise level for many years now and it is a partnership that Nienaber enjoys to see.

“In terms of the combination they’ve been playing together for quite some time now. Even when I coached the SA U20s they were playing together. So they have been playing together on a national level from SA Schools and SA U20,” said Nienaber.

“I think they are a very good combination like they have been at the Stormers and now on a national level.”