One former Springbok head coach has taken intention at South Africa’s halfback pairing following their 38-22 defeat to Australia at Ellis Park, questioning Manie Libbok’s means to manage a Check match when circumstances turned in opposition to him.
Libbok’s efficiency has been a lightning rod for criticism because the defeat, along with his intercepted cross to Joseph Suaalii and defensive lapses highlighted as turning factors.
With no specialist No.10 on the bench, Libbok was compelled to play the total 80 minutes.
Talking on the Speaking Boks podcast, former South Africa head coach Nick Mallett stated the Springboks’ lack of course at scrumhalf and flyhalf contributed closely to the Jo’burg collapse.
“From there, our halfbacks [Grant Williams and Libbok] by no means managed the sport,” bemoaned Mallett. “9 and 10 have to manage a sport, and so they’ve bought to sense when the sport is transferring in a sure course.
“What occurs generally with Manie, and I feel he’s achieved it with the Stormers too, is that when issues are going properly, he’s good on front-foot ball. His alternatives are actually good. However when the ball isn’t so fast, he nonetheless tends to try to play that quick sport, that wide-passing sport, making an attempt to play at tempo.
“That was once we began taking part in, for my part, the inaccurate fashion of rugby in opposition to Australia. They’re superb on transition, they’ve bought very skilful gamers, and we made lots of errors in that second half.
“This was a sport crying out for extra sport administration – kicking into corners, mixing within the driving maul, maintaining Australia guessing. As an alternative we performed into their palms.”
But the response has been removed from one-sided on X.
Some observers argued it was unfair to scapegoat the DHL Stormers flyhalf, pointing as an alternative to the Boks’ malfunctioning set-piece and defensive fragility. Rugby author and pundit Paul Williams identified that Libbok couldn’t be solely blamed for the defeat, insisting: “Can’t blame Manie Libbok for that defeat. However some will. So bizarre,” whereas one Springbok fan reminded followers that “he didn’t lose seven lineouts.”
