Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu hasn’t played as much senior rugby as some of his peers but the Springbok outside back impact sub for Saturday’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash with Australia has had a better grounding than most when it comes to the need to be adaptable.
His versatility is part of that, and of course that comes from his unique talents as a rugby player.
Many get pigeon-holed into just one position because that is all they are used to playing and have experience of playing, but the 23-year-old DHL Stormers flyhalf has such an amazing skill set that he is a coach’s dream when it comes to filling holes in an emergency.
Think back to the first time most would have seen him at senior rugby level.
He was just 20 years old when he made his Stormers debut and it was no conventional introduction to the big time to the youngster who had made his name while at school at Bishops.
He’d played flyhalf and fullback before that day, and but he ended up playing just about an entire game at outside centre, a position he’d only trained in but never played a serious game in before.
THROWN IN AT THE DEEP END AGAINST IRELAND
It was no ordinary Vodacom United Rugby Championship game either. It was a URC quarterfinal at DHL Stadium, and he had to play almost the entire game in an unfamiliar position after an injury to one of the Stormers centres.
He got through it, the Stormers won and the rest is history -- and Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s arrival was announced in no small way.
But it doesn’t end there when it comes to Feinberg-Mngomezulu having to think on the hoof and adapt quickly.
The first time he played almost a full test match for the Boks was in Durban last July in the second game against Ireland.
He’d been onto the field as a flyhalf and shown good touches in two games before that, but at Hollywoodbets Kings Park an injury to Willie le Roux in the first two minutes meant he had to play almost the entire game at fullback.
It didn’t work out particularly well for the Boks that day, and although he showed some good touches there were many pundits who pointed to poor game management towards the end of the match, when the Boks were leading by a narrow margin, as one of the reasons the world champions lost and had to share the series with an Ireland team that snapped over a last-gasp drop-goal.
But it proved a crucial part of his apprenticeship as an international player and would have built his confidence in his ability to front almost any challenge when it is thrown at him.
When Feinberg-Mngomezulu fronted a press conference in Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon many of the questions centred on what instructions he would take with him when he comes onto the field, but he reminded us that you can’t assume you can stick to a pre-set plan as a member of the reserve bench.
“In your role as a reserve a lot depends on the situation your team is in when you come onto the field (in the sense you could be chasing the game or trying to close it out) or you could be coming on for an injury,” said Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
“I experienced that against Ireland last year (when I came on at fullback early in the match). There are a lot of situations you could be in and you do need to be adaptable. I think just sitting next to the back-up scrumhalf on the bench and also staying in touch with (assistant coach) Felix Jones on the side sets you up the best for what is needed when you come on, be it in the first minute or the 79th minute.
“Just staying in touch with the game as it develops along with the other guys in the ‘Bomb Squad’ set us up and I think that because of that we are usually alright to go when we come on,” he added.
HAPPY TO SERVE AN APPRENTICESHIP AT THE BOKS
It is no secret that Feinberg-Mngomezulu wants to play his top rugby at flyhalf going forward and his insistence that he specialise there at the Stormers is one of the reasons Manie Libbok has left the Cape franchise.
In the sense that he was given the message that Feinberg-Mngomezulu was first choice in the pivot position.
However, at Springbok level it is a different story. While he needs time in the saddle in the game driving position at franchise level so that he can develop and become South Africa’s go-too man at flyhalf in a season or two, he knows at international level he still has an apprenticeship to serve and regards being able to play different positions as a blessing.
“There’s a difference with having the big dogs like a Handre Pollard here, it means there is a ladder that you have to climb and I think that just learning from guys like him, while juggling the act of 12 and 15 can only grow my game,” he said.
“To put the Bok jersey on is special every time you do it, whether it is a No 22, a 12, a 15, a 10 or even a 6. Regardless of what number is on my back I will do whatever is needed to help the Springboks. and to put on a Bok jersey is special every time so whether it is a 22, a 12 or a 15 or a 10 or even 6 on my back I will do whatever is needed to help the Springboks.”
ADJUSTING TO GAME PLAN IS WORK IN PROGRESS
Coach Rassie Erasmus said earlier in the season that he wanted to Feinberg-Mngomezulu to work on being a certain per centage himself and his own brand and a certain per centage what the Bok game needs from the player in the pivot position and Feinberg-Mngomezulu says that is a work in progress.
“It is going to take a bit of time. The coach is spot on. We saw this past weekend what happens when we kind of drift away from our systems and our structures and our fundamentals that make us a successful team. That is definitely something I am trying to hone into. It has been something that I have really focused on working on over the last few weeks. It is something I have to be patient with and try to do as best I can.
“When you enforce the Bok fundamentals that is when the team really thrives and that is when we put ourselves in the positions we want to be in and the opposition into positions they don’t want to be in.”
He gave an indication that the last part was being implemented effectively, putting the opposition into pressured positions, when he was asked about how the Boks were going to deal with the Wallaby veteran flyhalf James O’Connor, who could be in direct opposition to Feinberg-Mngomezulu depending on how the game develops and what the Bok injury situation is.
“I think he had a solid game. I do think though that in the first 20 minutes he felt what we are about. So I think just bringing a replica of that, what we did in the first 20 minutes, would do us good,” said Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
“Those passes he was getting over the top we have analysed and we understand why it happened and how it happened and we think we have the solution to stopping it from happening. I wish him a solid game but I think we will be able to tie him down this week.”
CONFIDENT DEFENCE WILL HANDLE AUSSIE THREATS
After conceding six tries last week, defence has been a big focus for the Boks, and again Feinberg-Mngomezulu is confident that the hard work will pay off.
“Defence has definitely been a chat because we wanted to figure out why what happened (in Johannesburg) happened. We have a defence system where we enforce pressure on the opposition and sometimes you have to concede a few metres on the edges.
“That is something we know about and it is nothing that is new to us. We haven’t focused on it too much but there were system errors leading up to those bridge passes O’Connor got away that caught us in those positions last week. So those we have looked at fixing. But sometimes we are going to have to give the opposition the bridge pass, let it happen, and we are just going to have to scramble like we always do and catch them on the next phase.”