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Manie Libbok is an excellent rugby player, but can Boks keep excusing his goal-kicking flaws?

Manie Libbok is an excellent rugby player, but can Boks keep excusing his goal-kicking flaws?
Jordan Hendrikse of the Sharks XV kicks a monster penalty to win the Carling Currie Cup, Premier Division final against the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 21 September 2024. (Photo: Christiaan Kotze / Gallo Images)
Craig Ray
By Craig Ray
22 Sep 2024
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The time has come to have a serious discussion about whether the Springbok management should persist with flyhalf Manie Libbok.

After the semifinal of Rugby World Cup 2023, where Handré Pollard landed a pressure-laden 77th-minute penalty to give the Boks a 16-15 win over England, this writer asked him if he had had any doubts before slotting the 48m kick in heavy, dank conditions.

“It is what you want as a player on this stage; to have moments like that, as a flyhalf, is what you live for. It was fun,” was Pollard’s answer.

libbok flaws pollard Handre Pollard of South Africa is tackled by Julian Montoya of Argentina during The Rugby Championship match on 21 September 2024 in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. (Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini / Gallo Images)



“There is so much adrenaline going through your body at that stage, you just have to stay in the moment. Not much went through my mind really, I just trusted the process.”

Pollard is not a flawless goal-kicker, but when the pressure ramps up, he, like so many greats in sport, narrows his focus and delivers.

He didn’t miss a kick at goal in RWC 2023. In the semifinal and final in 2019, he landed 13 out of 15.

Elite sport is brutal


Elite sport is brutal. Talent and promise are not enough. Consistency and delivering at the biggest moments are what separate the very good from the world-class.

The time has come to have a serious discussion about whether the Springbok management should persist with flyhalf Manie Libbok.

Most observers of the sport will acknowledge that Libbok is a fine rugby player. He can execute cutting passes, deliver inch-perfect kick-passes and slice holes in defences with his running game. There is a lot to like. 

He also seems like a decent young man. Hard-working, humble and proud. Which is why it’s so hard to see him repeatedly fail in the same fashion.

It’s not even about being an 80% kicker. It’s about having the temperament to land the massive kicks, at key moments, in games that matter. That hasn’t been the case for him at Test level.

No one is going to bet their house on Libbok landing a pressure kick to win a crunch match. He might do it occasionally. He did it once in a United Rugby Championship play-off game for the Stormers, but most of the time he probably won’t. That’s a problem at the highest level, where coaches and teams deal in tiny margins and try to eliminate chance.

Libbok missed what in Test terms was a relatively straightforward kick to give the Boks victory over Argentina in Santiago del Estero at the weekend and with it, the 2024 Rugby Championship title. 

He hooked the 79th-minute penalty from 35m on a slight angle. As a result, Argentina won 29-28 to ensure the outcome of the title goes down to next weekend’s final round in Nelspruit.

Many mistakes


There were many mistakes in the match, made by players other than Libbok. The Pumas’ flyhalf Tomás Albornoz missed three kicks at goal, but otherwise had a brilliant match. The starting Bok flyhalf, Pollard, missed one kick earlier in the game while there were missed tackles, botched lineouts and poor discipline from Libbok’s teammates.

Libbok wasn’t solely to blame for the loss. But he was at fault for the Boks not winning. If that sounds nonsensical, there is a slight distinction.

All those other mistakes, which included Libbok kicking the ball dead from a penalty and denying the Boks a chance of a 5m lineout and a possible try, were aspects that led to the defeat.

Yet, through all those errors, the Boks put themselves in a winning position at the death, as they have so many times before. Through all the mistakes, they still found a way to set themselves up for victory. All it needed was the man whose primary task is to kick goals, especially at critical moments, to convert.

It was Libbok’s fault the Boks didn’t win in the end. That’s the unfortunate reality of the role of being a Test goal-kicker.

Against the Pumas it wasn’t a low-percentage kick from the touchline in a strong wind. This was as comfortable as a Test match can offer. Which is to say, yes it was difficult, but it was expected to go over.

It’s why only one in every 5,000 South African schoolboys playing rugby on any given Saturday will become a Springbok.

It’s damn hard and requires so much commitment, sacrifice, talent and, yes, luck, to make it to the top, that only a few do it. So, asking someone who is there to complete a task he has been selected to perform, even if 99.99% of us couldn’t do it ourselves, is not unreasonable.

Other options


Coach Rassie Erasmus defended Libbok in the aftermath of Santiago, just as Siya Kolisi had passionately defended him after he landed only two out of five in the Boks’ 18-3 win over Scotland in their opening game of RWC 2023.

Erasmus opined that there were many other mistakes that led to Saturday’s defeat. As already noted, that’s not in question. But the Boks still did enough to put themselves in a position to win it.

Erasmus has to defend Libbok publicly because he selected the player and because that is what a coach should do. Players don’t select themselves, so if a player is failing in some way, that’s as much a reflection on the management as it is on the individual.

However, there is a sense that Erasmus does not trust Libbok any more either, despite his protestations after the match. 

Libbok, after all, was the first-choice flyhalf at the World Cup right up until the final. He started the quarterfinal and semifinal despite Pollard being in the squad and despite Libbok’s obvious goal-kicking issues.

This year though, before Saturday’s game, Libbok had made just two appearances, starting against Portugal and coming on as a sub against Australia in Perth. In all, he had less than an hour on the field in eight Tests in 2024.

Earlier this year, Erasmus selected Jordan Hendrikse to start at flyhalf against Wales at Twickenham with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu on the bench. Both made their debuts that day.

libbok flaws feinberg-mngomezulu Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu of the Springboks on attack during the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against New Zealand at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on 7 September 2024. (Photo: Anton Geyser / Gallo Images)



Feinberg-Mngomezulu was then fast-tracked into the side to dovetail with Pollard throughout the Ireland series and into the Rugby Championship.

A knee injury meant Feinberg-Mngomezulu could not be considered for the short Argentina tour and only the Bok management will know whether Libbok’s selection was pre-planned or necessitated by that injury.

Hendrikse struggled against Wales and was quietly removed from the squad. Ironically, playing fullback, he landed a penalty from 59m to give the Sharks a 16-14 win in the 2024 Currie Cup final over the Lions at the weekend.

libbok flaws hendrickse Jordan Hendrikse of the Sharks XV kicks a monster penalty for his team to win the Carling Currie Cup, Premier Division final against the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 21 September 2024. (Photo: Christiaan Kotze / Gallo Images)



Hendrikse might not have impressed the Bok management enough in his one Test appearance to warrant a second chance this season, but he has at least shown the temperament needed to land a vital kick.

You hate to see a talent as brilliant as Libbok left unfulfilled. Maybe though, he has reached his ceiling despite having produced some truly amazing moments in the Test arena.

It feels like it’s time to move on. Yet, there is a nagging feeling that you can’t chuck him on the scrapheap just yet.

That is the problem with Manie Libbok. He’s too good to give up on. DM

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