Jean de Villiers’ ‘overthinking’ theory for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s dip in form as Springboks star shows why he is ‘so special’
Stormers fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and former Springboks captain Jean de Villiers.
Jean de Villiers believes that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is only being held back in one aspect as the Springboks legend hailed the “special” fly-half.
The 24-year-old has made a return to form over the past couple of weeks with the playmaker most recently starring in the Stormers’ 38-38 draw at Ulster last Friday.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored 21 points, which included two tries, four conversions and one penalty as the Cape Town outfit kept themselves in the hunt for the United Rugby Championship top spot.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s all-round talents
It is not just his attacking talents which have impressed De Villiers, however, with the former Boks captain marvelling at other parts of his game.
“You can say what you want about that kid but the way that he throws his body around as a fly-half, the physicality that he brings, the commitment to the job at hand, when he switches on, when you can see that he’s in the zone, flip, he can do some special stuff,” he said on the Boks Unpacked podcast.
“You saw so many of those things on the weekend. Competing for high balls, diving on the ball on the ground, small things where if you’re not 100 per cent there, you don’t see that.
“He’s got all the skills in the world. I was watching the game on Friday and I just thought there’s a level of commitment that when it’s there, he is so special.”
Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s last two performances against Glasgow Warriors and Ulster have come off the back of a surprisingly poor run of form by his high standards.
While there were plenty of good moments, they were interspersed with some basic errors and poor decision-making.
De Villiers believes there is a reason for that, though, and thinks that he just needs to clear his mind when getting out onto the field.
“When he starts overthinking it, I think that’s when he runs into issues but when he just plays what’s in front of him, he’s phenomenal,” he said.
Other impressive South African playmakers
The Stormers star was not the only South African fly-half to impress at the weekend with makeshift 10s Willie le Roux and Zekhethelo Siyaya also coming to the fore.
Both moved from their usual spots at full-back to inspire the Bulls and Sharks to wins over Zebre and Benetton respectively.
Le Roux, who is 36, and 18-year-old sensation Siyaya brought their attacking skills to the fore as they hammered the Italian duo.
“It’s funny how when you select a certain player at 10, the mindset of all the players kind of change. You immediately think, ‘okay Willie is at 10, we’re going to run it’,” De Villiers added.
“Two minutes in, Canan Moodie pick and go from his own tryline and they score from there. The same with the Sharks in a way with Siyaya, the whole mindset was different.
“It’s weird how that happens.”
