Manie Libbok will have to find the solution for his goal-kicking woes if he wants to be in the conversation as a starting flyhalf for the Springboks, as coach Rassie Erasmus prepares to name his squad for the Rugby Championship today.
With Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in red-hot form, the pressure is mounting on Libbok after he missed three of his five kicks in this past weekend’s Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, meanwhile, kicked five out of five after replacing Libbok after half-time, as the Boks klapped Portugal 64-21 at Free State Stadium.
To be fair, Libbok was not the only Bok 10 to sukkel with his kicking in his first outing for the national team this year, with regular pivot Handre Pollard also having a shocker in the 27-20 win over Ireland at Loftus Versfeld after missing three kickable penalties.
With his other option at 10, Damian Willemse still nursing an injury, Erasmus admits he has an interesting selection headache.
Of Libbok’s woes in front of goal, Erasmus says: “[Assistant coach] Tony [Brown’s]’s trying to help him [Libbok with his kicking]. [You can] chat to Naas Botha, I don’t think there wasn’t a spell in his career where his game dipped, and he [Libbok] is [currently] going through a dip.
“But his general play is still good. It’s a tough one to handle and then Sacha comes in and he slots everything, passes well and creates tries.
“I think there is some proper pressure on all the 10s, Manie, Handre, Gaza [Willemse] and Sacha…”