Why Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been overlooked for World Rugby Award
Springboks star Sacha-Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The nominees for the World Rugby Men’s Awards are in, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s omission has caused a stir.
The Springboks fly-half has been in sterling form this year, with Rassie Erasmus trusting the playmaker in crunch Test matches, with the 23-year-old repaying his coach’s faith in him.
His most memorable performance of the year came against Argentina in Durban, where the fly-half broke the record for the most points scored by a Springbok in a single Test match.
The brilliant playmaker racked up a 37-point haul, bettering Percy Montgomery’s record of 35 against Namibia in 2007, scoring three tries and 10 kicks off the tee (eight conversions and two penalties).
That came off the back of a standout performance in the thumping 32-17 victory over France at the Stade de France earlier this month.
Why Sacha has been overlooked
However, despite his exploits, Feinberg-Mngomezulu has not been shortlisted for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year Award, and there’s a simple explanation as to why.
He does not qualify. World Rugby’s website provides a clear criteria for the award: “It is open to all men’s 15s players who have played no more than one year of international rugby. Voting is assessed on international test match performances. Club rugby is not recognised.”
Feinberg-Mngomezulu made his Test debut against Ireland last July, meaning that he did not qualify for the gong in 2025. He was, however, nominated last year, where he was pipped to the award by All Black Wallace Sititi.
South Africa is represented in the nominees for the year, though in the form of Ethan Hooker, who is shortlisted along with England’s Henry Pollock, New Zealand’s Fabian Holland and Australia’s Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.
While Suaalii also debuted last year for the Wallabies, he did so in November, making him eligible for the award. This has occurred in previous years with three All Blacks.
Rieko Ioane won the award in 2017 despite making his Test debut a year prior against Italy on November 12. Mark Tele’a earned his first cap for the All Blacks on the same date five years later, scoring twice against Scotland and going on to win the award after the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Will Jordan debuted for the All Blacks in the Tri Nations clash against Australia in November 2020 and would also be crowned the Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2021.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was also been tipped by many to be nominated for the World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year, but the panel – Jacques Burger, Fiona Coghlan, Victor Matfield, Drew Mitchell, Ugo Monye, Sergio Parisse, Kieran Read and Blaine Scully – nominated fellow Springboks Pieter-Steph du Toit, Malcolm Marx and Ox Nche instead along with France’s Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
The winners of the awards will be announced this Saturday on World Rugby’s social media platforms.
