Damian Willemse and Manie Libbok epitomise South African rugby’s bright future, writes MARK KEOHANE.
Libbok is 26 years old and Willemse is a year younger. As Test players, Willemse is the older, with 40 appearances compared to Libbok’s 14.
Neither are kids anymore, but neither is old either. As rugby players, they were certainly in between ages pre the 2023 World Cup in France.
Both have always had the magic; the genius and the licence to thrill, and both played more like kids than men in always seeking out the wonder pass, the improbable run or the impossible kick.
Both lacked consistency in performance, in that the maturity seemed to want to stay away, despite so many attempts to invite it into their careers.
Then it all changed in France in the latter part of 2023, at the sport’s pinnacle event every four years, and with the unrelenting pressure of being the defending champions, destined to play France at some stage of the playoffs.
Both were there when the French challenge arrived, in Paris, in the quarter-final, and both did their part in the thrilling 29-28 win that many, myself included, still believe to be the match of the tournament.
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The tournament would get bigger in having to win a semi-final and a final but in raw intensity, it did not come bigger or tougher than hosts France.
DHL Stormers coach John Dobson has many qualities, but one of his most endearing is his ability to praise the opposition, to acknowledge the pedigree of other coaches and to recognise the special in a player, a performance or a team, especially if that team is not the one he is coaching.
Dobson was the first to publicly acknowledge Libbok’s improvement as a player on his return from the World Cup. Dobson said that Libbok had returned from Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber’s World Cup squad a better player than the one the Stormers had sent to the Boks.
It was the greatest compliment Dobbo could pay the Bok coaches and it was also the biggest compliment he could give to Libbok, a player Dobson had backed from the day he signed him from the Sharks.
For those with short memories, Libbok languished at the Vodacom Bulls, playing just 35 matches in five years, and scoring just 67 points. He spent two seasons at the Sharks and played just 11 matches for 18 points.
Dobson recognised Libbok to be the playmaker he wanted at No 10 and since 2021 he has played 50 matches and averages 10 points a match. Libbok arrived in Cape Town, written off by the Bulls and Sharks as a player whose potential did not match performance, and three years later he is a Vodacom URC champion, a World Cup winner and a Springbok with a 78.5 win percentage.
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He is also a changed player, in terms of maturity and mentality. Libbok left for the World Cup a boy and returned a man.
Willemse has always been asked to be a man, even when he was still just a boy. A prodigious schoolboy talent for Paul Roos Gymnasium, he made his Stormers debut at 18 years old and 301 days. He made his Test debut when 20 years old.
Willemse has played 80-plus matches for the Stormers, nearly 50 for DHL Western Province and 40 for the Springboks. He is a back-to-back World Cup winner, and he is still just 25 years old.
Willemse ‘the maverick’ left for the World Cup in France and Willemse ‘the wise’ returned from the World Cup. Both players have so much presence on the field, post the World Cup win in France.
Both play like generals, and both play with ownership. They don’t doubt and they don’t showboat. Neither plays, as if to make a point about their potential; both now play with a pedigree and calm that makes its own point.
Both have two World Cups in them, in Australia in 2027 and the United States in 2031. Both can play 10 and 15 and Willemse can play 12. Both could slot in as wingers, if needed, and both can kick, from the tee and when nailing crucial drop goals.
If you want to know how strong the future of Springbok rugby is, think of Libbok and Willemse, then think of their youthfulness, in age, and of their maturity, in rugby.
This column first appeared in the February issue of SA Rugby magazine
Photo:@Springboks/Twitter