Full name | Immanuel Libbok | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 15 July 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Humansdorp, South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.61 m (5 ft 3+1⁄2 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 95 kg (14 st 13 lb; 209 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | HTS Daniël Pienaar, Uitenhage Hoërskool Outeniqua, George | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Immanuel Libbok (born 15 July 1997) is a South African professional rugby union player. He plays internationally for the Springboks, as well as for the Stormers in United Rugby Championship and Western Province in the Currie Cup. [2]
Libbok was born in Humansdorp. He attended HTS Daniël Pienaar in Uitenhage, and earned his first provincial selection in 2013, representing Eastern Province at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week, scoring tries in matches against the Blue Bulls [3] and the Golden Lions. [4]
Libbok moved to George for 2014, where he attended Hoërskool Outeniqua. He represented the George-based SWD Eagles at the premier South African high schools rugby union tournament, the Under-18 Craven Week, in both 2014 and 2015. In the first match at the 2015 tournament held in Stellenbosch, Libbok scored two tries, four conversions and one penalty for a personal points haul of 21 points in his side's 31–41 defeat to former side Eastern Province. [5] He followed this up with a try and four conversions against the Golden Lions [6] and a third try and two conversions against KwaZulu-Natal in their final match. [7] He scored a total of 43 points in three matches, making him the top scorer at the competition, [8] while his four tries were the joint-second most in the competition, one behind Western Province's Nico Leonard. [9]
At the conclusion of the tournament, Libbok was included in a South Africa Schools team that played in the 2015 Under-18 International Series on home soil against their counterparts from Wales, France and England. He started on the left wing in their 42–11 victory over Wales in their first match, [10] but dropped to the bench for match against France, not getting any game time in their 12–5 victory. [11] He returned to the starting line-up for their final match against England, helping them to a 23–16 victory to finish the series with a 100% record. [12]
After high school, Libbok moved to Pretoria to join the Blue Bulls academy. In March 2016, he was included in a South Africa Under-20 training squad, [13] and made the cut to be named in a reduced provisional squad a week later. [14]
Libbok was also named in the Blue Bulls squad for the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series and he made his first class debut on 8 April 2016, starting as a fullback in their 16–30 defeat to Western Province in Round One of the competition. [15] He also started their match against a Free State XV a week later, scoring his first senior points by slotting a penalty in the 15th minute of the match, and scoring his first try in the final ten minutes which proved decisive as the Blue Bulls won the match 20–17. [16] He also started their next match against Gauteng rivals the Golden Lions [17] and played off the bench in their defeat to the Eastern Province Kings in Port Elizabeth. [18]
On 10 May 2016, Libbok was included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship tournament to be held in Manchester in England. [19] He started their opening match in Pool C of the tournament in the fly-half position, scoring a try as South Africa came from behind to beat Japan 59–19. [20] He switched positions with fullback Curwin Bosch for their second pool match, a 13–19 defeat to Argentina, [21] but reverted to fly-half as South Africa bounced back to secure a 40-31 bonus-point victory over France in their final pool match, with Libbok scoring his second try of the competition just after the hour mark. [22] The result meant South Africa secured a semi-final place as the best runner-up in the competition, and Libbok started their semi-final match as they faced three-time champions England. The hosts proved too strong for South Africa, knocking them out of the competition with a 39–17 victory, [23] and they also lost the third-place play-off match against Argentina, with the South American side beating South Africa for the second time in the tournament, convincingly winning 49–19 [24] to condemn South Africa to fourth place in the competition. Libbok scored his third try of the competition in the defeat, to finish the competition with three tries, the joint-most by a South African player with Zain Davids and Edwill van der Merwe. [25]
Libbok returned to domestic action for the Blue Bulls U19 team in the 2016 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He made seven starts in the competition, scoring three tries during the season – one against Leopards U19 [26] and two against Eastern Province U19 [27] – as well as 35 points with the boot through 16 conversions and one penalty. He finished the competition as the Blue Bulls' second-highest points scorer, [28] and helped them to second place on the log [29] to secure a semi-final spot, at which stage they lost to Golden Lions U19. [30] He also made a single start for the Blue Bulls U21 team in the 2016 Under-21 Provincial Championship, scoring a try in a 52–38 victory over Leopards U21. [31]
In November 2016, he was named in the Bulls Super Rugby team's extended training squad during the team's preparations for the 2017 Super Rugby season. [32]
In October 2022, he was included in the squad for the Springboks' year-end tour. [33]
Opponent | P | W | D | L | Try | Pts | %Won |
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Argentina | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 100 |
Australia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 100 |
England | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 100 |
France | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 50 |
Ireland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Italy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 100 |
New Zealand | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 50 |
Scotland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 100 |
Tonga | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 100 |
Wales | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 100 |
Total | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 87 | 78.57 |
Try | Opposing team | Location | Venue | Competition | Date | Result | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Argentina | Johannesburg, South Africa | Ellis Park Stadium | 2023 Rugby Championship | 29 July 2023 | Win | 22–21 |
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