Libbok focused on the present and not thinking about the World Cup

Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok is fully focused on the present and is not thinking about whether he will make the squad for the World Cup, despite an impressive showing in the team’s thumping win over the Wallabies over the past weekend.

Libbok, making his first start in the green and gold after three appearances off the bench on last year’s end-of-year-tour, produced a solid display against Australia in Pretoria last Saturday which will hopefully have earned him another chance to start during the Rugby Championship.

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Although he has earned a spot on the plane to New Zealand it is uncertain whether he will make the match 23, with Damian Willemse likely to start, while it will then depend on what split the Boks use on the bench.

Libbok is, however, unperturbed by this and is just focused on improving himself and taking his opportunities when they come.

“At the moment my focus is to go out there and put my best foot forward whenever I get an opportunity to do so and be at my very best for the team. That is my main focus, just going out there and giving my all.

“It will be nice to go to New Zealand and a big opportunity for me. But there are still a lot of things that I can improve on. I am very happy with my performance (against the Wallabies) but I am just learning as much so that I can keep on improving.”

Nervy start

In the Wallabies match Libbok had a bit of a nervy start, with a couple of missed kicks at goal and a few dodgy clearances, but soon found his rhythm and steadily built his way into the game, becoming a bigger presence as it went on.

He also linked up well with fringe players such as scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and centre Andre Esterhuizen, with them forming a good partnership in the game.

“The pressure was big. I just struggled a bit with my execution at the start but once I got over the pressure I was able to get into a better rhythm and grew into the game. Obviously the forwards also gave me a great platform to play from as well,” said Libbok.

“It was nice playing with them. Cobus is an experienced campaigner and we have been working well together over the past few weeks. So it was a nice partnership and I enjoyed playing with him out there.

“With Andre we had trained together on the end-of-year-tour, so we knew each other a little bit. The preparation helped us to connect nicely on the field, which I felt we did against Australia.”