Tony Brown: ‘Scrapper’ Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has attributes that ‘all the best players’ like Carter and Dupont do
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in action for the Springboks and France superstar Antoine Dupont.
Springboks attack guru Tony Brown has heaped praise on Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and compared him to some of the greats of the game.
The 23-year-old played a key role in the Rugby Championship as South Africa retained their title.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu particularly impressed in the Boks’ victory over Argentina as he produced one of the great individual displays in a 67-30 triumph in Durban.
That earned him comparisons to All Blacks legend Dan Carter and New Zealander Brown, who joined the Springboks set-up after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, also feels that he possesses those types of qualities.
Why Feinberg-Mngomezulu is ‘special’
“There are special players out there that come along and they’re special because they can do things that other guys can’t do on the rugby field,” he told The Breakdown.
“He’s definitely one of those guys. You obviously saw it with Dan Carter when he first came along, Dupont with France – all the best players that have ever been have something special about them.
“He’s got that talent, he sees space better than anyone, he’s got athletic ability to attack as a 10, 15 or a 12.”
Feinberg-Mngomezulu burst onto the international scene in 2024 and was nominated for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award.
He missed out to Wallace Sititi after sustaining an injury in the Rugby Championship, which ended his Test season.
The playmaker suffered further setbacks at the end of 2024 before he returned to fitness in March 2025, impressing in the Stormers’ 10 jersey during the United Rugby Championship run-in.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s toughness
Part of his injury problems are perhaps explained by Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s willingness to put his body on the line.
Certain fly-halves will try and avoid contact, but not the Springbok, who will never accept taking a backwards step on the field.
Brown explained why that might be with the playmaker following the likes of former All Black Sonny Bill Williams in being quite happy in the boxing ring.
“He’s actually quite a tough kid, he’s a boxer so you don’t want to take him on, on the rugby field, you see him get into a few scuffles, so he’s a scrapper as well,” the attack guru said.
“He’s got the talent so my job is just to get him to do the simple things well, things that win you Test matches: kick your goals, kick well out of hand, control the game, lead the team around the field.
“If I can do that, his talent’s just going to come out all the time on the rugby field.”
