Rassie Erasmus: How Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s ‘many mishaps’ led to stunning Springboks display
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu try v Argentina and Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus insists that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s gradual exposure to Test rugby resulted in the fly-half’s outstanding display against Argentina.
Many see the gifted young playmaker as the one who will be the first choice South Africa 10 going forward, but the Boks boss has been patient with the 23-year-old.
Injuries have disrupted his progress over the past 12 months, but Erasmus has also tended to rotate between the fly-halves, with Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok also getting plenty of game time.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was handed the responsibility on Saturday and he produced a remarkable effort, which ended in a record South African points haul.
Record points haul
He scored a hat-trick of tries and kicked 22 points as they hammered Los Pumas 67-30 to go top of the Rugby Championship.
Erasmus believes that performance has been a long time in the making, however, having not rushed his development.
“Nobody can disagree that he was brilliant on the day. What we try to say is that if we put somebody in there and expect them to be world-class, it doesn’t just happen,” he told reporters.
“You grow a little bit against New Zealand, you grow a little bit against Australia and then you grow against Wales, or whatever, and I think he’s only on 11 caps (editor’s note: 14 caps).
“I thought Doogz (Damian de Allende) helped him a hell of a lot, Damian Willemse played well, and Manie came on, so there were a lot of guys that played well.
“Obviously, no one is going to disagree that Sacha was man of the match and he did incredible things on the field, but if you think about the lead up to where he was, there were many mishaps. I’m not talking about this game but the other games that he played.
“I think sometimes we must give guys a chance to build their reputation, build their skill set at Test match level, and he’s definitely doing that, but there’s a hell of a lot of people helping him: Manie, Damian, Tony [Brown], everybody.
“But nobody can argue that was really good.”
Kolisi’s verdict
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was also asked about the performance of Feinberg-Mngomezulu and the back-rower was very impressed by what he saw.
“I thought he was amazing, not just in the way he scored tries but the way he controlled the game. I think the guys around him, as the coach said, helped him a lot in making decisions,” Kolisi said.
“When we click as a team, every single player in our system is able to show what they are and that’s what the coaches always speak to us about.
“They pick us for a certain reason. We all have a point of difference and one of his is running with the ball but he doesn’t just run. Other players have to be in position for him to get in the place that he wants to.
“He kept his head cool and he put us in the right places and he was really amazing. He took charge, took leadership as we wanted him to – that’s what really stood out for me.”
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