There were 29 minutes and 29 seconds gone on the clock when Springbok lock Franco Mostert rose high and stole an England lineout in last year’s Rugby World Cup semi-final in Paris.
It was a brilliant piece of anticipation and athleticism from the Bok No 5 as he got in front of Maro Itoje on the SA 10-metre line and tapped the ball with his left hand, and it rolled into the path of Pieter-Steph du Toit.
The ball was recycled and Cobus Reinach fed Manie Libbok, who quickly shifted his body to launch an up-and-under on the Bok 22 – a daring move, but attacking nonetheless.
The only problem was that the ball skewed off his boot and went about five metres forward and evaded Cheslin Kolbe, and England regained possession.
But Owen Farrell’s chip was charged-down soon after, and at the next ruck, the South Africans got a penalty advantage.
They opted to play from there, with Reinach finding Libbok inside his 22 this time – but in his haste to catch the ball, the Bok flyhalf knocked-on.
To complete a nightmare passage of play, Libbok didn’t strike the ball properly in kicking the penalty into touch, and received sarcastic cheers from the Stade de France crowd.
Seconds later, with the clock stopped on 30 minutes and 53 seconds, referee Ben O’Keeffe told Libbok that he was being substituted by Handré Pollard...
Those disastrous 84 seconds wasn’t the only reason head coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus made the change, as Libbok was just not as assured as he usually is in controlling the Bok backline and attack.
But Bryan Habana told Cape radio station KFM afterwards that he would start Libbok against the All Blacks despite what had happened in the semi-final, and that he felt the substitution was “a bit harsh”.
“I still feel Manie was taken off very prematurely. It worked out in the end, but it was almost the dominance of the English over our forwards that let us down,” said the legendary Bok wing said.
“Manie kicked for the line three times, we had three lineout drives and we didn’t convert any one of those.”
Well, Pollard slotted some vital penalties to secure a 16-15 win over England and repeated the feat in the 12-11 final triumph over the All Blacks.
But now Libbok has been given a chance at redemption against England after Erasmus selected him in the No 10 jersey on Thursday for tonight’s showdown at Twickenham (7.40pm start).
There was a similar situation in the Rugby Championship, where the Bok coach backed the Stormers star for the title decider against Argentina in Mbombela despite him missing a late penalty in the 29-28 defeat in Santiago del Estero a week earlier.
Libbok repaid the faith with an outstanding performance in a 48-7 victory, and he will hope to do so once more in London today.
It was a typically against-the-grain selection call by Erasmus on Thursday, with many pundits expecting Pollard to remain in place for what is expected to be a tight, forward-based battle where the kicking games of both teams were set to dominate proceedings.
But the inclusion of Libbok and Grant Williams as the halfbacks indicates that the world champions are going to run at England, so expect fireworks from the visitors.
“We always like to give guys chances again, like we did in Mbombela,” Erasmus said.
“When we know it wasn’t Manie losing a Test match in Argentina; when we know as a team, we’ve lost that Test match.
“I’ve said it many times – a normal pass with a three on two is much easier than a kick in front of the poles.
“Manie hasn’t played a lot in the last couple of weeks, so we had to get him into camp and get him going.
“I think he got a rest when he went to the Stormers, whereas Handré kept playing, playing, playing, so he was more or less in the groove.
“Now we’ve got Manie (for) three weeks with us.
“It was also against England when we had to make the substitution in the 32nd minute (in the World Cup), and we like to give a guy a second chance and see...
🗣️ "A chance for him to convince us that he can still go to the next World Cup with guys like Sacha, Siya and Jordan in the mix."
Rassie Erasmus on backing Manie Libbok this weekend against England and handing him the 10 jersey.#AutumnNationsSeries | @SpurRestaurant pic.twitter.com/t5t30jRhHX
“Again, if he doesn’t make it, he knows we are not going to be upset with him.
“We know what his skill-set is. If he gets through this like he did in the Argentina Test match, he will be a better player on the other side.
“If he doesn’t, we’ve got security on the bench with Handré, and then we will still work on him.”
Ironically enough, it wasn’t his patchy goal-kicking that was the problem for Libbok against England last year, but tonight’s clash also provides him with an ideal opportunity to banish his demons off the tee once and for all.
Jaden Hendrikse took the shots at goal in Mbombela, but is not in the match-23 today, with the only other kicking option being Kolbe.
Surely Libbok must be backed to kick at goal?
And if he handles the pressure in that regard, it would take much of the heat off the 27-year-old from Humansdorp, as there is no doubt that he is the first-choice pivot when it comes to executing the new ‘Tonyball’ attacking approach that the Boks have embarked on this year.