Dobson praises Libbok’s resilience after man-of-the-match showing

Stormers coach John Dobson was effusive in his praise of star flyhalf Manie Libbok after his brilliant man-of-the-match showing helped his side cruise to a comfortable win over the Bulls in their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal over the weekend.

Libbok has had a difficult past few games, with him struggling a bit with his kicking, while he had also produced some lacklustre showings on attack, particularly in the Stormers loss at home against Munster last month.

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However the pivot was back to his superb best on Saturday, running the Stormers attack with some scintillating play, while he was dead-eye off the kicking tee nailing all seven of his shots at goal for a personal haul of 18 points.

It was the perfect response for a difficult patch for the flyhalf, in which many were wondering if he should be included in the Springboks World Cup squad, but those worries should be gone after his fantastic performance.

Massive growth

“The growth in Manie from when he first came here is massive. He had the ability to spiral (out of control), and lots of players do. Now he’s got the ability to put everything behind him, so he’s very mature like that,” explained Dobson after the game.

“Manie has that ability just to reset all the time. It’s testament to his quality, because there has been a bit of noise around him for the last few weeks that he’s not really Test flyhalf material, and now I’m sure tomorrow he will be Test flyhalf material again.

“It’s remarkable that he’s got that ability. There was one game we played in Durban last year where he did spiral, and everything got worse and worse. Now, he’s fixed that, and has this ability to stay in the fight and I think it’s great for him.”

Libbok will have another chance to prove his mettle when the Stormers face Connacht in their URC semifinal at the Cape Town Stadium this coming Saturday, and another sparkling showing will surely put him front and centre for a spot on the plane to France.

If the Stormers reach the final, Libbok will get another shot at silverware after helping his side to the URC title last year.