It was a year ago that Manie Libbok was the flyhalf general of a Springbok team that got their tactics spectacularly wrong against the Wallabies at Ellis Park, with a runaway start on the scoreboard turning into a nightmare second-half meltdown.
The Boks rattled up 22 points in no time, but Australia scored the next 38 for a shock win that silenced the 52000 crowd.
Libbok on Saturday will be the flyhalf at Ellis Park once more — against England in the Nations Championship opener — and he admitted on Wednesday that painful lessons had been learned.
“We got off to a fast start, we scored some very good tries, but we did not get the balance right in that game,” said Libbok, who is also eight more Tests the wiser about how to run the Springbok game.
“The lesson from how we lost to the Wallabies is that you have to look after the big boys up front. That is important for us game drivers.
“You can’t overplay the forwards; you can’t deplete their energy when we need them to deliver in the set pieces, and on defence.
“I feel like we got it wrong on the day, but we learned big lessons from it going forward. We will be better in that space on Saturday, for sure.”
Libbok is also likely to have the goal-kicking responsibilities, but he inferred that this is still to be officially decided (Cheslin Kolbe has emerged this year as an ace kicker).
“Kicking for posts is part of my job. If it is me on Saturday, I will take it on as part of my role with the team. Whether it is two or three points that I must convert, I will give it my best.
“If it is Cheslin….We have seen what he did in Japan (he was the top points scorer in the league),” Libbok pointed out. “He kicked the ball very well; and last week against the Barbarians he slotted them nicely. We will wait and see who gets the kicking duties.”
