Cape Town – Zaahier Adams’ IOL Sport Show guests – senior rugby writer Leighton Koopman and Live Editor John Goliath – praised Manie Libbok’s natural ability as an attacking force during a preview of the Stormers’ United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-final against Connacht on Saturday.
The Stormers’ Libbok was the toast of Cape Town on Saturday when he produced a near flawless performance to sink the Bulls in their United Rugby Championship quarter-final.
Libbok had a bit of a dip in form ahead of the Bulls clash, while his kicking game – both out of hand and off the tee – wasn’t up to its normal standards.
But the Stormers No 10 put on a show at Cape Town Stadium, taking the ball flat and bamboozling the Bulls with ball-in-hand to contribute heavily to the Stormers’ try-scoring efforts. He was also flawless off the tee against his former employers.
Stormers coach John Dobson praised Libbok’s bounce-back ability following his performance against the Bulls.
“The growth in Manie from where we were when he came here, he had that ability to spiral, and lots of players do. Now, he’s got that ability to put things behind him. He is very mature like that,” he said after the Bulls match.
“Last year in Durban, and we spoke about this, he spiralled and everything went worse and worse. But he has fixed that and manages to stay in the fight, he turned that into a positive trait,” Dobson added.
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