Springboks legend claims Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu suffering from ‘second-year syndrome’ as fly-half verdict offered
Springboks fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and former lock Victor Matfield.
Springboks legend Victor Matfield has backed Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to get through his rough patch after yet another underwhelming display on Saturday.
The playmaker has endured a difficult 2026, firstly with the Stormers and then with the national team after returning from injury.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has started all three Tests against the All Blacks, but he has failed to make much of an impact.
Springboks playmaker’s ill-discipline
In their latest clash, which the Boks edged 29-24, the fly-half, who switched to full-back following Cheslin Kolbe’s early injury, was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.
He then avoided another yellow, which would have resulted in a red, in the build-up to Ardie Savea’s second try for a cynical breakdown action before escaping sanction for taking a New Zealand player in the air.
It has summed up the pivot’s campaign with the 24-year-old perhaps trying too hard to make an impression.
“It’s a pity, all the games there’s been injuries in the backs and we’ve had to shift it around,” Matfield said on the Rivals podcast.
“I think we’ve got three 10s that are quite different. I think at Newlands when we were under pressure, we wanted to go back to Handre Pollard that can really control a game, keep the forwards on the front foot, play a conservative type of game where you manage it by your pack of forwards and your nine and 10 with the kicking game.
“Sacha has the X-factor, he’s going through that second-year syndrome when the first year everything just worked, whereas now he has to work for it.”
Although Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s Test debut was in 2024, making three starts, injury ended his international season early and it was a year later when he truly impacted the sport at the highest level, becoming the Springboks’ first choice pivot.
However, it has been a struggle so far in 2026 despite Matfield being impressed by how he fronted up in the second period of the Soweto showdown.
“I thought in the second half he really stepped up, even though he was at 15. Those kicks he had to make and his physicality on defence is unbelievable,” he said.
Three-way fight for Springboks 10 shirt
Feinberg-Mngomezulu featured at full-back after Kolbe went off due to a broke jaw suffered after nine minutes, with Manie Libbok taking over at fly-half.
“In Manie we’ve got a 10 that if you want to open it up, I think he’s probably the best. He loves to call for the ball, he loves to get width on attack and we scored both of our tries with him giving those long passes to the outside,” Matfield said.
“We still don’t know who is the guy who will take that 10 jersey, I still think it will probably be Sacha, he just needs to work through this second-year syndrome.
“That always happens because the expectation is so high of him to just go out there and do magic. I think he will need to learn how to build pressure and when the opportunity comes, you take it, because he’s got all the skills for that.”
