Flyhalf Manie Libbok, as he did in the quarter-final win against the Bulls the week before, produced an all-round master-class to help the Stormers beat Irish team Connacht in their URC semi-final played at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Libbok scored 23 points, which included two tries, while he played a big role in wing Angelo Davids’ first half try — by executing a pin-point accurate cross-field kick out wide.
The Stormers will now play in their second consecutive URC final, against the winner of the Leinster versus Munster match in Dublin later Saturday.
John Dobson’s team won 43-25 on Saturday.
Libbok brilliance
The 25-year-old followed up his excellent showing against the Bulls with an equally impressive performance against Connacht.
After a nervy start by the home team, when Libbok also dropped a pass on his tryline, he responded by setting up Davids, and then scored two tries himself to give the Stormers the advantage mid-way through the first half.
There were several other standout performances by the Stormers players on the night, among them Damian Willemse, Dan du Plessis, Herschel Jantjies and Leolin Zas.
Up front, Steven Kitshoff was all power, Ruben van Heerden made plenty tackles, while Evan Roos carried strongly.
With the game on a knife’s edge at 24-20 to the home team mid-way through the second half after an excellent fightback by the men from Ireland, replacement scrumhalf Paul de Wet again showed his class by being at the right place at the right time.
With the Stormers 31-20 up, Connacht again fought back to close the gap to 31-25 with five minutes to go, but tries by Marcel Theunissen and Ruhan Nel, after a ridiculously good offload behind his back by Hacjivah Dayimani secured the win for the home team. Libbok, by the way, again had a big hand in the movement.
