For a long time the lack of an international class flyhalf to supplement the star quality in other positions was seen as one of the reasons the DHL Stormers couldn’t make the breakthrough to winning a major trophy, but those days are gone.
Not only will the Stormers have a top flyhalf to call on for the next three seasons building up to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, you could easily say they will have two. The announcement that Manie Libbok has signed on for another three seasons follows just a few weeks after a similar announcement was made around Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who is considered by many as the heir to the incumbent Springbok flyhalves Libbok and Handre Pollard.
There was interest expressed in Libbok from France last season, but he opted to stay in the Cape, and has now committed himself long term to the franchise that effectively kick-started a career that was struggling to get going at first the Bulls and then the Sharks. With Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu both available to him, Stormers head coach John Dobson will arguably have the best two locally based pivots on his books. Jurie Matthee is no slouch either and has a lot of promise, while of course c has worn the Springbok No 10 with some success.
Both Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu can of course play other positions, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu, probably long term the more reliable place-kicker of the pair, possibly in line to wear the No 12 jersey for the final Vodacom United Rugby Championship league fixture against the Emirates Lions and then into the playoff rounds following the injury that will sideline Willemse.
