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Springboks greats weigh into Manie Libbok debate as Jean de Villiers reveals the ‘reality’ of fly-half’s kicking woes

Springboks great Jean de Villiers admits that there will always be a “risk” of selecting Manie Libbok while his goal-kicking continues to be a problem.

The 27-year-old is a wonderful attacking talent who has continually shone in the United Rugby Championship with the Stormers.

At Test level, however, the margins get smaller and Libbok’s errant kicking off the tee proved to be costly against Argentina last weekend.

He had a chance to win the game, as well as the Rugby Championship title, for South Africa, but he missed a penalty from in front of the posts as Los Pumas claimed a 29-28 triumph.

De Villiers insists that “no one regrets it and hates it more than Manie that he missed that kick”, but concedes that it will be taken into account by the Boks coaches when it comes to selection.

‘Manie the fly-half and Manie the kicker’

“That’s unfortunately the reality now with Manie. You almost need to differentiate between Manie as a fly-half and Manie as a kicker,” the former centre said on the Boks Office podcast.

“He’s a fantastic fly-half, he’s a fantastic attacking player. Defensively, he makes his tackles. He’s not a dominant tackler like a Handre Pollard or a Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu or a Damian Willemse, but he can do a proper job for you.

“Unfortunately for him, and that’s what he needs to realise, there is a risk by selecting him as a fly-half with the goal-kicking if you don’t have someone else backing up.

“For a fly-half, that is a tough thing, but is he a bad player? Certainly not.”

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has backed Libbok for Saturday’s encounter, naming him in the starting line-up for the title decider.

In the reverse fixture in Santiago del Estero, the talented playmaker was selected on the bench and replaced Handre Pollard in the second period.

However, De Villiers’ fellow Springboks legend, Schalk Burger, believes that Erasmus would have done things differently if they were playing a key Rugby World Cup match.

“If this was a World Cup play-off, my gut feeling is that Handre would have moved to 12 when Manie came on. Handre would have stayed on the field for exactly that reason; to kick the winning goal,” Burger said.

Despite the disappointment of seeing the team go down to Argentina, a defeat which resulted in South Africa dropping to second in the world rankings, the ex-flanker is not too concerned.

Burger argues that it is all about the 2027 World Cup in Australia and that this loss could actually proved more beneficial to the Springboks and Libbok.

Development

“It’s part of this Boks team’s evolution. You’ve got to expose players, you’ve got to lose Test matches to be able to know it’s not happening in 2027 in a World Cup play-off match,” he said.

“The players have got to make those mistakes before that. Luckily it happens three years before the next World Cup, so you’ve got a chance to improve your skill set – if you’re Manie Libbok, to prove them wrong.

“You say: ‘Listen, let’s get back to the drawing board, let’s remodel our mental approach, let’s remodel some technical issues I’ve got in my kicking game’, because clearly there is probably a bit of both.

“He’s a great attacking player and Rassie rates him for it. You’ve got an opportunity to learn from those mistakes.

“Certain players last weekend might not have had the physical output that they wanted to, but Rassie will tell them to go and play URC and come back a better player.

“That’s how this Bok team [works], hence why we’ve got 30 of the best international players at our disposal.”