Cobus Reinach: There is no ‘guiding’ Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the Springboks squad
Cobus Reinach says that the Springboks' won't be 'guiding' Sacha through his first start against the All Blacks.
Springboks scrum-half Cobus Reinach says that the squad won’t be guiding rookie fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in his first start against the All Blacks at Ellis Park.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been one of the finds of the year and is bound to be in the running for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year after making his debut against Wales at Twickenham and featuring in every Springboks’ Test so far this year.
‘There is no guiding him’
On Saturday, he will face his most daunting task yet as he earns his first cap against South Africa’s fiercest rival New Zealand.
The pressure will be on the young 10 with ex-Springboks skipper John Smit previously quoted as saying: “As a Springbok, you have two debuts. Your first ever game in the green and gold and your first game against the All Blacks.”
Despite this, Reinach explains that while Feinberg-Mngomezulu has the backing of the squad, he and other experienced squad members will not be “guiding” him through his first clash with the All Blacks.
“There is no guiding him and no pressure, we’re all going to go out there to do our job,” the experienced Bok nine, who will also be earning his first start against the All Blacks, explained.
“I’m backing him to go out there and do his job and he is backing me to do my job. Once you start focusing on guiding and helping a guy out, you forget about your own job and that’s the most important thing, that’s why you get picked.
“So, there is complete faith and confidence in everyone to just go out there and do their job.”
‘Sacha has got rugby in his blood’
Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus said that it would be stupid not to select Feinberg-Mngomezulu against New Zealand after he impressed in each of his Test matches so far this year.
Erasmus added that there would be mistakes from the youngster but that he would learn from them.
While Reinach says the team won’t be guiding him, he explained that they will ‘fix’ any mistakes that he does make.
“Sacha has got rugby in his blood. There is a video going around of him at 13 years old in front of a load of people and there is no lack of confidence and you can see it. He takes that onto the field with him too, he just wants to play, and express himself and he has the confidence to do it,” he said.
“Now, he has got the whole squad behind him and supporting him, he knows that we are all backing him and we don’t care if that mistake happens – we will fix it.
“We are a team, one man doesn’t make a team and if we all go together and help each other, fix where someone went wrong then it’s going to be tough to beat.”
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