When a player believes he’s up for completing his designated task, you simply have to back him.
That was why Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber didn’t discourage Manie Libbok and Faf de Klerk, his two front-line goalkickers, from attempting to slot longer range shots at goal in Saturday night’s deflating and narrow 13-8 loss to Ireland in Saint-Denis.
Between them, Libbok and de Klerk spurned no less than 11 points off the tee, which, as News24 says, proved a cardinal sin in an epic contest defined by very small margins.
There had been a view in the build-up to the match that the Boks would follow a similar recipe to their comprehensive mauling of the All Blacks at Twickenham last month, where they hammered away at their opponents’ defensive line by continually going to touch and then either actively hunting a try or forcing a penalty closer to the posts.
Given the significant question marks that hovered over South Africa’s goal kicking, ‘opting for challenging shots at goal instead of banking on an efficient lineout on the night was, at the very least, notable’.
Nienaber explained that De Klerk’s solid striking during the warm-ups in particular needed encouragement.
‘Kicking at goal, as is the case with all teams, [is a matter of confidence]. If your kicker is confident to go for it and the captain asked [and] got a positive response in that regard, he needs to kick at goal.
‘It’s as easy as that. If they are confident that they can nail it, they go for it. It’s as simple as that.
‘It’s unfortunate that he hit the post. That’s it.
‘As a team, we got good value out of this game in terms of future preparation in the tournament. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result.’