Give Manie Libbok the 10 jersey in Baltimore
OPINION: The Springboks have produced some of their most impressive attacking performances against the All Blacks when Manie Libbok has featured, and giving him an opportunity to start in the final Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in Baltimore on Saturday will only increase the South Africans’ chances of winning in style.
The Springboks outplayed the All Blacks 29-24 at FNB Stadium at the weekend to take a 2-1 series lead after also defeating their rivals at Cape Town Stadium one week earlier.
Bok boss Rassie Erasmus will name his team for the fourth and final Test at 20h00 on Monday night (SA time).
The Boks suffered an early blow at the Calabash when Cheslin Kolbe – who started at fullback – left the field for a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) in the ninth minute, with Erasmus later confirming that Kolbe had suffered a broken jaw.
His departure saw Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu move to 15 and Libbok come on at 10.
He unlocked the Boks’ attack as soon as he came on and they automatically ran the ball a lot more than in the first two Tests. His ability to bring out the best in the players around him was on show yet again.
His brilliant passing game, vision, and luxury menu of attacking kicks effortlessly allow the backs around him to cut loose, not in a reckless way, but in a way that looks so good that it will have you wondering why they didn’t start running it sooner.
He can turn his backline into an attacking operation by pulling the strings or spring a surprise and bring the threat all too easily himself, like he did at the weekend with that beautiful linebreak and step that took the Boks into the 22 in the build-up to that penalty try.
It’s no coincidence that the Springboks have claimed their highest-scoring wins over the All Blacks when Libbok has featured prominently.
In South Africa’s 35-7 win at Twickenham in their 2023 World Cup warm-up game, when they handed the All Blacks their biggest-ever defeat at the time, Libbok started at flyhalf and pulled the strings masterfully, while he added stunning and equally accurate attacking touches, superb, raking touch finders, and five-from-five conversions.
In the record 43-10 thrashing in Wellington, New Zealand’s biggest defeat yet, Libbok came on for Feinberg-Mngomezulu before the end of the first quarter.
While the Boks were brilliant as a team on the day, Libbok was instrumental as he produced a performance that should have silenced every single one of his critics.
Despite trailing 10-7 at half time, the Boks scored 36 points in the second half while blanking the All Blacks, and the very area that Libbok has always copped flak for – his goal kicking – delivered a 13-point haul.
The Boks cannot lose the series given their lead and the worst-case scenario for them would be taking a draw, and giving Libbok a start would set the Boks up well to bring down the curtain on the historic series in style.
Handre Pollard brings the territorial edge, Feinberg-Mngomezulu combines that with individual brilliance, but no other South African flyhalf can do for those around him what Libbok does so effortlessly. And Saturday presents another opportunity for him to make a statement against the All Blacks.
