South Africa's flanker and captain Siya Kolisi (right) looks on as flyhalf Manie Libbok takes a penalty kick during their Rugby World Cup match against Scotland. Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was emphatic in his response when flyhalf Manie Libbok was criticised for missing three out of his five kicks at goal in their Rugby World Cup opener against Scotland. Picture: Nicolas Tucat/AFP
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was emphatic in his response when flyhalf Manie Libbok was criticised for missing three out of his five kicks at goal during their 18-3 Rugby World Cup win over Scotland in Marseille on Sunday.
Libbok won the Player of the Match award with some moments of individual brilliance, including a no-look kick which led to his side’s final try which sealed the contest against Scotland.
Yet, there were still lingering questions about Libbok’s kicking for goal after scrumhalf Faf de Klerk took over the duty late in the match.
“From a players point of view, this question gets asked quite a lot. We play as a team and sometimes you’re not good at one thing on the day,” said Kolisi.
“But the way he attacks and takes control of the team, he is a general among us. People forget that, and remember the [other] stuff. Faf can kick, Cheslin [Kolbe] can kick. There’s a lot of guys we can call upon. If someone is lacking somewhere, somebody else takes over.”
Kolisi went on to explain that parts of his own game don’t always fire on all cylinders which is when he calls on his teammates.
“It’s the same with me. Sometimes I don’t know what to call in the game, Duane [Vermeulen] will call, Eben [Etzebeth] will call. Or Manie makes a call.
“He’s not going to be good at everything, every single day. Sometimes a flyhalf, you have to hide them because they can’t tackle. [But] He tackles there with us. You can’t have everything on the day. That’s why we work together. If he misses a kick, we don’t stress about it. We go again. If you throw in [to the lineout] skew, you don’t do it intentionally. We’re working as a group and we work together.
“He [Libbok] has confidence in us, and when Faf has to kick nobody stresses because maybe he’s good on the day.”