Manie Libbok slotted five out of five against the Barbarians, a big improvement from games where he wasn't entrusted with goal-kicking at all.
Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok says he has worked hard on goal-kicking. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)
Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok says he has worked very hard on his goal-kicking after struggling at posts in the early stages of his international career, and especially at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Libbok addressed media ahead of South Africa’s second Test against Italy in Gqeberha on Saturday (kick-off 5.10pm), where he will start at flyhalf with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu on the bench. The Springboks won the first Test 42–24 in Pretoria last week, with Handre Pollard at No 10, but need a better showing this time around.
5/5 a sign of improvement?
Libbok made his last Springbok appearance two weeks ago, coming off the bench in the second half against the Barbarians in Cape Town. He slotted all five of his conversions, even one or two tricky ones.
The performance highlighted a possible rebalancing of his strengths, after becoming known as more of an open play specialist and playmaker, with Pollard and Feinberg Mngomezulu more reliable at postal duties.
Libbok reflected on this improved performance, compared to his display against England at Twickenham in November last year, where he only slotted two of his four conversions and missed a long-range penalty, though his brilliant cross-kick led to a Cheslin Kolbe try, plus the game against Argentina in Mbombela in September when he played at flyhalf but was not trusted with postal duties at all after missing a penalty kick that would have won the first game against Argentina the week before.
The flyhalf said he had learned to identify what was needed from him while still working on goal-kicking.
“Leading up to that [Twickenham] game I didn’t have a good record kicking for poles but I identified the situation and that freed me up to focus more on my open play and executing our plans and driving the team around the park and putting us in great areas, creating opportunities to score tries,” he said.
Libbok ready for high-pressure game in Gqeberha
Still, the flyhalf said goal-kicking was something had “worked really hard at to get right” in the past few months, including in the United Rugby Championship, where he achieved a goal-kicking accuracy of 72.6% in the past season. This was still lower than Stormers and Springbok teammate Feinberg-Mngomezulu (85.7%).
“I am just happy that I got it right in the game against the Barbarians. My focus now is to continue on that performance and try do my best and try to get it right going into this Test match as well. It’s a continuous process, working on it.”
He said had a good week in training when it came to kicking for poles, adding that Gqeberha is a windy city and his focus is getting his processes right in goal-kicking. If he handles the high-pressure situation, “the result will take care of itself” in his kicking.
