Libbok & Goosen duel for SA Throne

DHL Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok has made his former team rue the day they let him go, but in-form Vodacom Bulls counterpart Johan Goosen is primed and ready to erase that memory when the teams clash in Cape Town on Saturday.

After four challenging seasons at Loftus Versfeld, Libbok failed to launch in a short stint with the Hollywoodbets Sharks and joined the DHL Stormers in 2021, where he has since had a hot hand in an uninterrupted run of victories against the Vodacom Bulls.

The DHL Stormers go into Saturday’s north-south derby in Cape Town on a six-game Vodacom URC winning streak against their northern rivals, with star flyhalf Libbok highly influential in their success against Jake White’s side in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

In the inaugural 2021-22 Vodacom URC, Libbok scored 21 points in the two round-robin games against the Vodacom Bulls. When the two teams faced off again in the Grand Final in June 2022, he kicked eight points, including a 73rd-minute drop goal to guide the DHL Stormers to their first major title.

Libbok was at it again last season, scoring 28 points in the two round-robin derbies, before haunting White with an 18-point haul in the Cape Town quarter-final.

The playmaker’s confidence is at an all-time high, having played a key role in South Africa’s 2023 Rugby World Cup triumph, before returning and slotting a winning touchline conversion as the DHL Stormers beat defending champions La Rochelle in the second round of the Investec Champions Cup in Cape Town a week ago.

“When he came here, he was probably a six or seven out of 10 [player], but he’s come back from the Springboks as a nine,” said DHL Stormers head coach John Dobson.

“We had a good Manie prior to the Springbok journey. Now he’s a real leader and a game driver. And he’ll get better and better for us.

“He’s very mature and is such a class player now. And it’s great that he’s going to be here for the next three or four years.”

Deon Fourie, captain of the DHL Stormers and integral to the Springboks 12-11 World Cup final win against the All Blacks in Paris 50 days ago was sure Libbok would succeed with the game-winning kick against La Rochelle last week.

“I think he’s grown as a player and person,” said the DHL Stormers captain. “And just the calmness that he showed again. He did it in the semi-finals against Ulster in the first Vodacom URC [season]. I didn’t have any doubt in him.”

While there were concerns Libbok may never reach the potential he showed while representing South Africa at U20 level in 2017, the 26-year-old has, through his exploits at the DHL Stormers, emphatically proved his doubters wrong.

Like Libbok, it has taken admirable persistence, grit and determination for fellow Springbok playmaker Goosen to earn the respect of his countrymen.

Goosen, a schoolboy wonder at flyhalf and a Springbok at 21 years-old, slipped off the radar in the Republic, despite guiding Montpellier to the EPCR Challenge Cup title in 2021 against Leicester Tigers.

The 31-year-old endured two injury-hit seasons upon returning to South Africa to join White’s Vodacom Bulls, but has finally found his footing at Loftus Versfeld.

Goosen’s two most recent performances saw him score 14 points in a Vodacom URC derby victory over the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Pretoria, before helping the Vodacom Bulls get their Investec Champions Cup campaign off to a flying start with a 12-point haul against three-time champions Saracens.

White is eager to see Goosen playing a leading role in a Springbok-stacked backline, which also features Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse.

“I signed him on a long-term contract, he’s here until 2026,” said White. “Through injury he has been in and out, but part of my brief is to get him to play his best rugby. I’ve seen him playing in France and he was a Player of the Tournament twice in the Top 14.

“Obviously if he is playing his best rugby and is combining with guys like Canan [Moodie] and Kurt-Lee, and Embrose Papier, then all of a sudden you’ve got four Springboks in your backline.

“And I’ve said it many times, when you get that sort of experience and that calibre of players playing together, it gives you a chance in big games.”

There are no games on the Vodacom Bulls 2023-24 schedule that will be bigger for White and the Vodacom Bulls than a clash with Dobson’s DHL Stormers in Cape Town.

The match pits South Africa’s two-time Shield winners against their strongest challengers to the throne this season.

It is South Africa’s traditional powerhouses of domestic rugby, combining for 30 Currie Cup titles between them. And much will depend on the ability of each of the two gifted playmakers to control the game, play the big moments and spark the attack to walk away with the bragging rights.