TEST RUGBY: Boks gamble by not starting a top goalkicker against France, but Libbok waits on bench

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has picked Manie Libbok on the bench to face France at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on Saturday, but the starting XV still looks thin in the goalkicking department.

He has landed only seven of 13 kicks at goal in Test rugby in 2022, or 54%, which simply won’t be enough for the Boks if the game is decided on fine margins. “He’s getting used to the language and what we do in certain areas of the field. We’re confident that if he does get an opportunity, he won’t have to think about what is happening here and can play his natural game.

“But it’s also a testament to his professionalism, because he lives and breathes rugby. He thinks and talks about rugby all the time and has a great rugby brain. He spends hours researching the opponents in the week of a match. He looks at the back field and communicates so well. He has a sensory appreciation of the game.

“France have great innovation and detail in their kicking and as a coach it’s quite stimulating to come up with plans to try and unlock it,” Nienaber said.“Great coaches before us haven’t been able to do it, so it’s exciting to see if our plans, by picking the players we have, will work.

Dimitri Catrakillis should never have been sidelined!!

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