Dear Manie Libbok,
You are human like the rest of us and we all make mistakes. We are sorry you have had to go through all the abuse and trolling this past week after missing that penalty for the Springboks in the dying minutes against Argentina.
It’s easy for bullies to throw stones via their cellphones from the comfort of their toilet seats during the Rugby Championship. Most of them are usually talentless individuals who stand around the braai and take over the conversation of how they scored the winning try for the Under-19G side at school.
But you, Manie, you are one of the most naturally talented rugby footballers in a Springbok jersey this country has ever seen, a magical player who can do things on a rugby field others can only dream of.
You deserve to be in the Springboks’ No 10 jersey, not only because of your ability, but because of what it took for you to get there. The road from the dusty streets of Humansdorp to the Springboks was filled with potholes and dead-ends.
It took a while to get there, with life taking you to the Bulls and the Sharks, where you couldn’t really express yourself. But you started to bloom when you navigated your way to Cape Town and the Stormers.
“Nobody valued him at the time, but I could see he had that X-factor,” Stormers director of rugby John Dobson mentioned in an interview earlier this year.
Since moving to the Cape, you steered the Stormers to the United Rugby Championship title in 2022 and another final in 2023.
Who can forget that kick to win the semi-final against Ulster from the right touchline? Then there was that drop-goal against the Bulls in the final to give the team a cushion en route to the title.
There has been other magical moments, such as that conversion from the touchline to win the game against La Rochelle, not to mention some of the magical individual tries you have scored by carving up defences. Few flyhalves has that burst of pace and the ability to step off both feet.
Nobody will ever forget the no-look cross-kick for Kurt-Lee Arendse to score in the corner against Scotland with that World Cup game still in the balance. Only you could have pulled off such a moment of brilliance.
Yes, there have been plenty of low points too where you have missed difficult kicks to win matches. But that happens to all athletes, even the great Michael Jordan has missed game-winning shots.
That miss in Argentina is probably still haunting you. But what is important to remember is that you are always the one to put your hand up. You are always the one taking the responsibility.
It’s why you are loved by most rugby-loving South Africans. The others aren’t real supporters, we can tell you that.
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Do you remember the video of that little boy which came to light during the World Cup? That kid looks up to you as a hero because of how you carry yourself, the way you express yourself on a rugby field and all the obstacles you had to overcome to get here.
The final lines of William Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus” - Nelson Mandela’s favourite poem - reads:
“It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
Your failures will never define you. You are better than your failures. This is why coach Rassie Erasmus put you “back up on that horse” to show the world that there is only one MANIE LIBBOK.
Ignore the haters, Manie, you are the master of your own fate and you belong in that Springboks jersey..
Yours Sincerely,
South Africa