'It's not happening in a 2027 World Cup playoff match'

Schalk Burger is taking positives from South Africa’s narrow 29-28 defeat to Argentina in round five of the Rugby Championship on Saturday, saying it is part of the team’s “evolution”.

After missing a rudimentary penalty in the final seconds of the match, which would very likely have given the Springboks the victory and the Championship, flyhalf Manie Libbok’s goal kicking has certainly been in the spotlight.

The Stormers No10’s kicking is something that has always come under scrutiny, and the former flanker believes the events in Santiago del Estero will “follow” him.

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Burger’s former teammate Jean de Villiers is in agreement, and now feels it is now a “risk” to play the 27-year-old without another kicker in the team.

Speaking on this week’s episode of RugbyPass TV’s Boks Office, the pair dissected the loss, and the ramifications for both the Springboks and Libbok.

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“Unfortunately with Manie – and he was so good when he came on, his tactical kicking was accurate – for a reasonably young flyhalf, that follows you that pressure kick, because it’s going to come again,” the former World Rugby player of the year said.

“And we can go through the game and say ‘that’s not the turning point’, but at the end of the day, last year at the World Cup, that’s what won us the World Cup, Handre Pollard’s kick against England. Then you go to the final and you realise [Jordie] Barrett and [Richie] Mo’unga missed three attempts between the two of them, that’s the World Cup there.

“That’s, unfortunately, the difference, the margins are so fine.”

“The reality now with Manie is you need to differentiate between Manie as a flyhalf and Manie as a kicker,” de Villiers said.

“Fantastic flyhalf- fantastic attacking player, defensively he makes his tackles, he can do a proper job for you. Unfortunately there is a risk by selecting him at flyhalf with the goal kicking if you don’t have someone backing you up as a goal kicker. As a flyhalf, that is a tough thing, but is he a bad player? Certainly not.”

The positive for Burger is that this has come three years before Rassie Erasmus’ side are set to defend their World Cup in Australia. This provides the players, not just Libbok, to improve their skill set.

Boks Office host Hanyani Shimange even highlighted the kicking struggles South Africa’s highest point scorer Percy Montgomery endured during his playing that he was able to iron out.

Fortunately for Libbok, he has been backed by Erasmus to go out and prove the doubters wrong this weekend in Mbombela in round six of the Championship, where the Boks can bring the title home. Libbok will start in the No10 jersey and, judging by the rest of the backline, will be the designated goal kicker.

“It’s part of this Bok team’s evolution,” Burger said. “You’ve got to expose players, you’re going to lose Test matches to be able to know. It’s not happening in a 2027 World Cup playoff match. The players have got to make those mistakes before that.

“Luckily now it happened before three years before the next World Cup so you have a chance to improve your skill set.

“If you’re Manie Libbok, prove them wrong, say ‘listen, let’s go back to the drawing board, let’s remodel our mental approach, remodel some technical issues that I might have in my kicking game’ because clearly there is a bit of both. He’s a great attacking player and Rassie backs him for it and you have an opportunity to learn from that mistake.”

Shimange added: “Monty went through it. He changed his kicking and came back at the top. It’s a very fixable thing. I just think the abuse is unfair.”

De Villiers also agreed that the reaction by fans and the abuse directed towards the flyhalf online has been “too much”

“This is where we really need to say,” he said. “We take rugby extremely seriously and Springbok rugby is so close to our hearts but at the end of the day it’s just a game. We can’t now get personal and start attacking his character.

“That just gets too much. No one regrets it and hates it more than Manie that he missed that kick.”