Manie Libbok reacts during the Test match between the Boks and Pumas in Santiago on Saturday. Picture: Rodrigo Valle/Getty Images
Following the events in Santiago on Saturday, one’s got to now wonder whether Manie Libbok will again play a big Test match for the Springboks, or if he’ll only play again if there’s someone else in the team to take the shots at goal?
Libbok unfortunately missed the penalty that mattered – at the death, from a fairly easy position on the field – that played a part in the Boks losing their Rugby Championship Test to Argentina on Saturday.
Had the kick gone over, the Boks would have won the match and the Rugby Championship, and Libbok would have been lauded, his selection would have been heralded and coach Rassie Erasmus would have been applauded.
As the coach said afterwards, “we’d all be sitting here with smiles on our faces”.
It wasn’t to be though.
The Rugby Championship will now be decided in Mbombela this weekend.
Of course, all the attention is now on Libbok, and rightly so as a player with his experience should be slotting those kicks, even though one shouldn’t blame him alone for the defeat. The Boks were not great on the day in Santiago and Argentina also missed a few shots at goal. Heck, the Boks let the Pumas score four tries in 20 minutes in the first half after being 17-0 up; that’s just not on.
Unfortunately, because of his history, Libbok had everyone watching to see what he would do when it came to kicking for goal.
Yes, Handre Pollard has missed a few this season and so has Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu; it’s rugby, it’s sport, these things happen, but in Libbok’s case, it has perhaps happened too often.
The question needs to be asked, does he still have a future with the Boks? If so, should it not be a given then that he simply not take the goal-kicks, because there’s nothing wrong with the rest of his game.
Remember during Jake White’s time, Percy Montgomery played fullback from 2004 to 2007, not because he was the best 15, but because he was the most reliable kicker. Butch James could just play at 10.
Maybe the Boks of 2024 and into the future must consider a similar set-up, when Libbok is picked to play flyhalf?
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