‘Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the David Beckham of rugby’
· The South African
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu find himself in a position where he is constantly in the headlines, which is quite understandable considering he has quickly become the new ‘poster boy’ of South African rugby.
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Regarded as a generational talent, Feinberg-Mngomezulu has settled in as the first-choice No 10 at the Stormers, while last season he was widely viewed as the player who had also moved to the top of the Springboks’ pecking order at flyhalf.
However, some recent inconsistent form for the Stormers, coupled with the pressure of taking on the Stormers captaincy, has led to some questions about what he needs to get back to his best.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu must be carefully managed
At a media briefing in Cape Town recently, Springbok attack coach Tony Brown light-heartedly suggested the youngster just needed some TLC, while highlighting how the Bok environment would bring out the best in him once again.
Stormers coach John Dobson has said they do need to tread carefully as they look to best manage such a mercurial talent.
“Tony is absolutely right that sometimes he may be trying too much. But we know where it comes from – he’s desperate for the Stormers to win.
“I’d rather have that than someone who is disinvested or worried about managing his body. Our job is to coach him better so he makes the right decisions.”
Ever-increasing profile
With great interest in what Feinberg-Mngomezulu is getting up to both on and off the field, Dobson also issued a warning about sports people having to cope with ‘celebrity’ profiles, such as legendary former English football star David Beckham.
“Sacha’s got a massive profile, he’s the David Beckham of rugby now,” Dobson said. “He’s our No 10 and the 10 is always a game driver along with the No 9 and No 15. But our 10 always sits with calling the plays.
“Then we added the captaincy on top of that for a 23-year-old. That was probably our mistake.
“The noise is a concern because he’s a youngster,” Dobson added.
“In sport, things are emotional. A couple of months ago he was being spoken about as the best, and now suddenly some people think he’s not good enough.
“There are lots of comments about him and it would take a very tough person not to be affected by that. He’s a youngster with a massive future. He’s going to be great for South African rugby.”