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'It’s sort of contrary to rugby values. That worries me a little bit'
By Simon Thomas
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been hailed as “a generational talent” by his DHL Stormers boss John Dobson.
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The Springboks star has been in sparkling form of late, scoring 50 points, including four tries, during Cape Town victories over Connacht Rugby and Benetton Rugby in the last two rounds of the BKT URC.
He is sure to be a key figure for the sixth-placed DHL Stormers as they set their sights on making a big impact in the play-offs.
Giving his thoughts on the 23-year-old fly-half, Dobson said:
“I am the coach of the team he plays in, but I can’t claim to have coached him for a second. He is a generational talent.
“He is such a good guy and so level headed.”
Dobson says that’s all the more important with the hype surrounding the versatile young back having gone stratospheric.
“We had that with Siya (Kolisi) when he was here before he went to the Sharks,” he said.
“He would walk into a petrol station and you would have people howling and dropping their pumps!
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“It feels curious for the team. When one player is elevated by hype above the rest of the team, it’s sort of contrary to rugby values. That worries me a little bit from a team perspective. It’s a tricky one.”
Reflecting on what the future holds for the eight-times capped Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Dobson said:
“Probably our biggest challenge is to make sure he stays on the field.
“That’s not something we control.
“It’s nerve-racking stuff because he has done his knee twice.
“We have to be very careful about his body without changing who he is.
“You can’t say to him ‘Listen, you have been tackled six to eight times a game, it’s too much for a fly-half’ because that would take away who he is.
“It’s a real tightrope the whole Sacha project, but brilliant to have.”
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The Cape Town-born Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a scintillating hat-trick of tries in the narrow 34-29 victory over Connacht and then crossed again in the 56-5 demolition of Benetton.
He also landed nine shots at the sticks against the Italians – six conversions, two penalties and a drop goal – and demonstrated his astute tactical kicking game.
“It was entirely clinical and mature, the way Sacha and Warrick (Gelant) kept drilling the ball into the corners in the second half. We were so territorially dominant, so in charge,” said Dobson.
The DHL Stormers coach was in a far happier mood after the Benetton game than he had been following the nerve-jangling win over Connacht.
He had described the defensive performance against the Irish province as their worst in years, so he was delighted by the response from his players.
“There was a lot of emotion after the Connacht game even though we won,” he said.
“We knew we had to change dramatically and show we are a championship team. It was a big week.”
The Stormers certainly stepped up to another level against fellow play-off contenders Benetton, running in seven tries.
“It was everything we wanted and planned, a really, really good performance,” said Dobson.
“It was almost flawless. We were so clinical, so mature and we were really good defensively.
“It was our best performance in the URC by a distance.”
What was also impressive was the crowd of 18,474 at the DHL Stadium, following on from 18,211 for the Connacht game.
“There is something brewing,” said Dobson.
“You see the amount of blue in the crowd, jerseys, not just flags. It’s just going up and up and up. It’s becoming like a soccer crowd. They are fully invested.
“It was a great crowd for the Benetton game, a really good experience and we entertained them, which is our theme for the season.
“We are playing rugby that suits our DNA and the people resonate with it and they are coming along. It’s a really good space with the crowd numbers.”
The DHL Stormers now have two more home games to round off the regular season, with Dragons RFC (this Saturday) and Cardiff Rugby (Friday, May 16) the opponents, as they look to secure their play-off spot.
“If we keep going like we are, I think we will finish fifth and stay local in the quarter-finals,” said Dobson.
“We will go to Durban to face the Sharks, which is something we will do with great relish. That derby would be a nice one for us.”
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Let the kid play. You cannot control injuries.
Tell me when last did we have such a unpredictable, great, taking gaps flyhalf. Previous flyhalf also good but not as good as this guy. He reads the game perfectly. He will win us our 5th RWC Title of this I have doubts.
[Sorry to be picky, but I think you meant you have ‘no’ doubts, with which I strongly agree, but at the same time hou my duime vas that it happens - I call it ‘constructive pessimism - but happy in the knowledge that if the Boks don't make it a’ three-peat’ they will be beaten by an incredibly good team, and not another useless ref, say like Bryce Lawrence in 2011.]
Intelligent player but a very worrying injury profile for a young lad.
Knee, hip, collarbone and concussion all across just a couple of seasons.
Yep. Pollard is getting old and Manie is eratic.
“I am the coach of the team he plays in, but I can’t claim to have coached him for a second. He is a generational talent.”
Well that’s not great.
Compare that to Phil Dowson, who this week said Pollock needed to work on his set piece, his maul defence, and his defensive positioning.
Apart from the pommie press, who actually thinks Pollock is so fantastic? You don't have to be anything more than a little above average to be considered ‘good’ as an English-born player! Whereas in SA, with a huge amount of highly talented players coming through the amazing school and junior systems, Sacha has already proved himself, over and over and seems to learn the minor details game by game all by himself. I fully expect him to do a ‘Naas Botha’ and restrict himself as time goes by to just ensuring his team wins against the stronger teams and keeps his enthusiasm and running for the weaker teams like Benetton seemed to be. He also seems intelligent enough to realise that he already has a target on his back and - like Naas - will try to avoid the hard cases attempting to end his career, particularly for test reasons.
Dobson always strikes me as a guy who’s perhaps too close to his players. Even when he was giving the Stormers a (deserved) dressing down after the Connacht game, he apologised for doing so. While being loved by your players means they’ll play for you it must be hard to control huge egos in the team, which might explain why the Stormers often have games where everyone wants to be the hero and the team loses structure.
Meanwhile, Rassie recently admitted that he never has one-on-one with players because a knowledge of their personal lives might cloud his judgement in terms of selection. I think someone like Sacha probably needs an environment where he can be himself on the field but will be reigned in if he puts himself before the team. He'll have that at the Boks. Not sure he has that at the Stormers.