John Dobson was delighted as Manie Libbok turned in a man-of-the-match performance to help the DHL Stormers bounce back with a six-try thrashing of the Sharks in Durban.
Even though it wasn’t his best day in the office, Libbok scored 19 points, including an opportunistic try, as the Stormers responded to last week’s loss in Belfast by dominating the Sharks at Kings Park on Saturday.
Libbok also played a major role in setting up Herschel Jantjies’ opening try in the second minute of play, a score that set the tone for what was to come.
Speaking after the game, Dobson hailed the performance of his flyhalf general, while also highlighting the Stormers’ need to develop better depth in the position.
“The original plan was to rest Manie for this game, but then Jean-Luc [du Plessis] went off against Ulster and we had to call him in again,” said Dobson. “We are going to give him a bit of a break now, I think.
“We do need to build more depth there. We can’t keep relying on him every time. He did make mistakes today, but jeepers, he makes things happen. That’s important in rugby. It would probably be safer with a robotic 10, but for the good of the game that we want to play, Manie’s the guy.
“I am excited about what Jean-Luc and Kade can do. They all play a similar sort of game. Manie is fantastic in opening things up. That first try set the tone of the game. That was a Stormers try. That’s who we are. He was instrumental in that.”
Dobson said that while the nature of the loss to Ulster was not great, it was always part of the plan to target the coastal derby and make sure the Stormers had as strong a squad as possible.
“The Ulster game…we had to put that into context in terms of the personnel, the disruptions, the way we were playing. There’s a horrible negative emotion when you lose like we lost there. It was our biggest defeat in the URC.
“We were always coming for this game. That’s why we didn’t take people to Ulster. That was our plan. We knew this would be very important in terms of the South African conference and getting a little bit of a cushion.
“We didn’t quite expect it to work out like it did today, though.
“We want to open things up. That’s our plan,” Dobson added. “The other ‘try’ where Manie dropped the ball over the line, that was also all us. We want chaos. We want counter-attacking opportunities.
“What really pleased me… our scrumming performance was superb. But this was always the plan: to rest guys last week and come for this game, a local derby. It’s nice that it came off and we played some of our rugby. Another key to Stormers rugby is our defence and I thought we defended well today as well.”
One of the major pleasing points for Dobson this season has been the depth that the Stormers have been able to create.
This was illustrated in the pack’s performance against the Sharks. In the absence of Evan Roos and Bok props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe, the likes of Marcel Theunissen, as well as Neethling Fouche and Brok Harris produced fantastic performances.
“We won the URC last season, but our main task this season was to make sure we have something sustainable. I spoke about it before the season. We didn’t want to become a one-hit wonder.
“The key to that, especially when we are competing in three competitions if you include the Currie Cup, was to create depth. Our mindsets have changed quite a bit. A while ago there would have been devestation with losing Evan Roos and leaving Hacjivah out of this game. But then we see what Marcel Theunissen did this afternoon. So we have created some depth.
“I think we have a little way to go in some areas. You would agree with me, watching last weekend in Belfast, that we have a bit of work to do with our backs, when you see what happened after Jean-Luc du Plessis went off. In the forwards we have some really nice depth. So I am very happy about that.”
Having gone 10 points clear at the top of the South African conference, the Stormers have a week’s break before they travel to Loftus Versfeld for the all-important north-south derby against the Vodacom Bulls on 18 February.
Dobson said that while they want to take a strong squad to Pretoria, the Stormers will be monitoring Libbok’s fitness and may opt to rest him for the derby.
“We will have a look at it. We definitely want to give this week coming up off. That’s really important. The game against the Bulls might be a bit of a mixed team. Of course, it’s a local derby and we want a great rugby occassion. They are selling up a great north-south derby. We will try to be as strong as we can for that.
“A guy like Manie, we will have to look at him. We have to bear in mind that as well as doing well as we can in these competitions, we also need to give Manie the best chance of making the Springbok team. So he will be the one player we will have a chat about in terms of that game. For the rest, it will be a great north-south derby. We are looking forward to it.”
Photo: Steve Haag/INPHO/Shutterstock/BackpagePix