Libbok under the spotlight after kicking disaster
REACTION: It was a match that could have boosted the Stormers’ chances of retaining the United Rugby Championship trophy.
However, the Round 17 encounter saw Stormers suffer a 24-26 defeat to the Munster on Saturday at Cape Town Stadium and dented their hopes of a potential home semi-final.
The Capetonians managed to secure two losing bonus points and are now third on the overall log – one point behind second-placed Ulster (64 points).
Stomers could have easily sealed a victory. However, they failed to convert their opportunities into points, while the usually reliable boot of Manni Libbok also proved to be costly.
The No.10 missed five kicks at goal – three penalties and two conversions.
Four of those kicks were within his range and on any other day he would have easily slotted it over.
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When quizzed why the Stormers head coach John Dobson didn’t hand the kicking duties to Damian Willemse, the coach said: “It didn’t cross my mind, to be honest”
The coach said he is confident Libbok will turn his kicking fortunes around as he did during last year’s semi-final match against Ulster in Cape Town.
“When we played in last year’s semi-final against Ulster, Manie missed a few kicks and then slotted one from the corner [to win the game]. That’s the thing with Manie, he can come right at any time.”
Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff added Libbok had a bad day at the office but will certainly bounce back from the kicking horror show.
“I think he knows it’s his job. My job is to scrum and set mauls and his job is to kick to posts,” Kitshoff said.
“It’s difficult to try and boost his confidence. He just needs to work a bit harder with Gareth Wright [Stormers kicking coach] to try to find a solution.
“But, to hammer down on him is probably not the right call. It might damage his confidence further.
“It was a bad day kicking to posts but he’s a hard worker with a massive work rate.”
‘No silver lining’
Saturday’s defeat to Munster means that the Stormers’ quest of sealing a potential home semi-final is not in their own hands.
The Stormers will have to secure a bonus-point win over Benetton in Stellenbosch on Friday and will have to rely on Ulster to slip up against Edinburgh next week to move up to second on the log.
“It was a major disappointment,” Dobson said, adding: “We want to host a semifinal here. We know from our recent experience in the Champions Cup how tough some of those big teams are away from home.
“We had to win, that’s the bottom line. It is really hard to see the silver lining.”
The defeat to Munster in the penultimate round-robin phase also spelt the end for the Stormers’ 15-month-long unbeaten streak at home.
“The winning run was going to go at some stage, so that was not a big thing for us.
“Our main thing was to make Cape Town smile and wanted to provide the occasion of a home semi-final.
“It is just so disappointing because we were so close.”
@leezil07
