Ex-All Black’s take on new breed of ‘freakish’ Springbok playmakers and Tony Brown’s influence on them
Springboks fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, attack coach Tony Brown and fellow playmaker Manie Libbok.
Samoa and former All Blacks fly-half Lima Sopoaga is excited to see the emergence of South Africa’s new breed of fly-halves and believes having Tony Brown in the Springbok camp will bring out the best in them.
The Springboks have generally opted to pick solid and pragmatic fly-halves over the years which complimented their conservative style of play.
However, in recent seasons they have flipped the script by selecting more adventurous playmakers with the likes of Stormers duo Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok receiving game-time at fly-half for most of the Springboks‘ matches during the 2023 and 2024 Test campaigns.
Speaking on the Behind The Ruck podcast, Sopoaga was asked by former Springbok centre Juan de Jongh for his thoughts on South Africa’s decision to make a change to the way they play and replied: “I like that type of style. Obviously, traditionally, South Africa has a very conservative sort of style.
“Someone who kicks goals and does the basics extremely well, puts the big pack into the right side of the field.
New Bok playmakers ‘bring an excitement’
“But both those players that you mentioned (Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Libbok) bring an excitement and something to the game that you just can’t teach.
“You can teach kids to manage a game or kick goals or get a better kick, but what you can’t do is teach what those two boys that you just mentioned can do.
“Some of the things that they do is just stuff that you would do in the backyard, but they’re doing it in Test match footie.”
Sopoaga, who played for Samoa at last year’s Rugby World Cup in France and previously represented New Zealand in 16 Tests between 2015 and 2017, believes adding Tony Brown to the Springboks coaching staff as their attack coach will bring out the best in the likes of Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Libbok.
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“For those young boys coming through from South Africa who have that beautiful natural ability, that raw talent, that freakish skill set, there’s probably no one better to learn the game of how to be a first five-eighth from than Tony Brown,” he said.
“So I think as time gets on, you’re going to see those guys morph into something pretty special because what they have naturally can’t be taught, but what they get taught is gold.
“And I think you’ve just got to give both those sets of first fives time, time to develop.
‘You’ve got to be allowed to make mistakes’
“We always seem to want to see the finished product like today, yesterday, next week, but it really is, to be a good first five-eighth, it’s time in the saddle and you’ve got to be allowed to make mistakes.
“And I know at Test level mistakes aren’t allowed, but over this next four-year period, you’ve got to allow these guys to win games, to lose games, to make mistakes.
“Sometimes they’re going to be great and sometimes they’re not going to be so great.
“And you just got to be able to live with that because at the end of the day, it’s everyone knows it’s about winning World Cups.
“Obviously we want to win Tests but most nations are gearing up for this next cycle. Who’s going to be there in ’27?”
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