The South African Fab Four from round six of Vodacom URC is as follows: <
DHL Stormers - Sacha Feinberg-MngomezuluMany frustrated Stormers supporters will only remember the penalty kick in the last minutes that didn’t go out against Cardiff, and the centre was one of the visiting players guilty of losing the ball too often in contact, but the Junior Springbok would have been the man of the match had his team won the game. There is so much class about his allround game, with his ball in hand attacking ability and deft field kicking being supplemented with his reliability from the kicking tee, that it is a pity we haven’t yet seen him start in his preferred position of flyhalf yet for the Stormers.
Emirates Lions - Francke HornMorne van den Berg won the official man of the match award but good though the scrumhalf was, he wasn’t more influential in laying the platform for the Lions’ big win over Zebre than No8 Horn, who is surely one of the young Lions players who will be pushing for Springbok honours by the next Rugby World Cup. Horn scored a try of his own but was influential in setting up a few others, not least with his kick that led to the first try scored to Edwill van der Merwe.
Hollywoodbets Sharks - Aphelele FassiFassi’s weaknesses under the high ball were spotlighted by some of the opposing teams when the Sharks were overseas but since he’s returned home to Durban the fullback has excelled in the best tradition of Sharks attacking fullbacks dating back to Doc Louw and Tim Cocks in the 1970s and early 1980s and extending through Andre Joubert in the 1990s. With the likes of Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, Aphiwe Dyantyi and the underrated Werner Kok playing around him, Fassi is going to prove a nightmare for future opposition defensive systems.
Vodacom Bulls - Jaco van der WaltThe Bulls director of rugby Jake White has done some great off season business in the contracting sense but until this past weekend’s game against Connacht there wasn’t that much focus on the former Emirates Lions and Edinburgh flyhalf who has been capped for Scotland. The 29-year-old delivered a cool and commanding performance from the flyhalf position to confirm the depth that the Bulls have in that position even after the retirement of the legend that is Morne Steyn.
Â