Manie Libbok scores for the Stormers in the URC semi-final. Photo: Stormers/Twitter.
Maestro Manie moonwalks Stormers into URC final
Manie Libbok shines as Stormers power in the URC final.
Manie Libbok scores for the Stormers in the URC semi-final. Photo: Stormers/Twitter.
Manie Libbok was the star of the show as he inspired the Stormers to a 43-25 win over Connacht in Cape Town on Saturday to book their place in a second consecutive URC final.
The Stormers are off to the big dance yet again and the scoreline as well as the way it came about tells a tale of a dominant home side who had their visitors on the ropes and dancing to their tune for 80 minutes straight. But in reality, the Stormers had to graft hard for this victory.
In fact, they had to mount a comeback to get here.
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Connacht made their intentions clear from the outset, dominating their error-prone Stormers in the early stages. It sent clearmessage they were not here to make up the numbers. And indeed they weren’t. The Irish outfit had the Stormers on the back-foot and the fact that several of the Stormers’ key role players showed clear signs of nervousness by making basic unforced mistakes, made the 47,262-strong crowd uneasy as well.
Libbok and Damian Willemse fumbled possession on their own tryline when instead of hacking the ball out of danger zone, they tried to play from the back. And it backfired, as Connacht powered over the tryline off the back of a solid 5m scrum.
Trailing by and playing the way they were at the time, both the Stormers and their faithful supporters’ frustrations were palpable.
STORMERS SHOW UP AND SHOW OUT
For all their uncharacteristic mistakes though, the Stormers’ big name players stood up to be accounted for when it mattered.
Up front, the forwards dominated the scrum — anchored by Frans Malherbe and Steven Kitshoff — and that set the perfect platform for the backs to pull their trigger when the ball eventually came their way.
Exhibit A (below) when Libbok put it on a string for wing Angelo Davids with this well-weighted kick pass to get the hosts going.
There was a blip in concentration when the Stormers conceded a try on the stroke of half-time for a 24-13 scoreline at the break.
Up to that stage, Libbok had quietly gone about his business conducting the Stormers’ plays. But then he took centre stage, racking up 17 straight tries on his own with two converted tries and a penalty as the Stormers wrestled control of the game.
It was the same pattern that followed in the second half. Connacht start off aggressively, but fade once once the Stormers stave off the danger.
There would again by two tries for Connacht, but once the Cape Town party got going in the final quarter of the game, there was no stopping it. Tries extravagant tries by Marcel Theunissen, Paul de Wet and Ruhan Nel just put the icing on the Stormers’ cake.
SCORERS AND FULL-TIME SCORE GRAPHIC
Stormers — Tries: Angelo Davids, Manie Libbok (2), Paul de Wet, Marcel Theunissen, Ruhan Nel. Conversions: Manie Libbok (5). Penalty: Libbok.
Connacht — Tries: Mack Hansen, Conor Oliver. Penalty: Jack Carty.
