'That's the biggest challenge for him now': The Dan Carter verdict on SFM

Legendary All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter has described South Africa No.10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu as a “rare talent”, but has said “you don’t become a world-class first five overnight by having two or three good seasons.”

The 44-year-old Kiwi gave his verdict on the Springboks playmaker when joining the For The Love Of Rugby: South Africa podcast recently, where he revealed that the 24-year-old had reached out to him for advice.

The advice that he gave him on the podcast was that he needs to “build consistency,” saying “that’s the biggest challenge for him now.”

After starting against the All Blacks in the first Test defeat in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, the Stormers fly-half is on the bench this weekend for the second Test in Cape Town, with double World Cup winner Handre Pollard preferred to start.

While Rassie Erasmus has justified the decision by saying it comes down to the styles of the players, it does come after Feinberg-Mngomezulu endured a tricky afternoon against the All Blacks, where he was unable to reproduce the heroics from the record victory over the All Blacks last year, or indeed any of his performances during 2025. Finding consistency is the biggest challenge now for the Springbok, Carter believes.

Fixture

Internationals

South Africa

08:10

29 Aug 26

New Zealand

All Stats and Data

“He’s a rare talent,” Carter said. “He can flip a game just with one special play. He’s fast. He’s explosive. He plays with such confidence. So I think they’ve managed him really well up until last year, where they haven’t just thrown him into the spotlight.

“You’ve had someone so reliable in Handre Pollard, who is a world-class 10 himself. You’ve got Libbok as well, who has delivered at international level, and you always had heard of this young number 10 coming through. But they didn’t sort of pressurise him too much and just throw him into the mix straight away. He was in the environment and they really let the reins off last year, and you saw what he could deliver in Wellington against the All Blacks.

“He just put in this devastating performance, and that was like, ‘Wow, okay, now I’ve seen what this kid is capable of.’ And then he went and backed it up over in the northern hemisphere tour in November as well, and he just went from strength to strength. Just the confidence that he was playing with was incredible.

“So he’s a rare talent. Obviously working pretty closely with Tony Brown, who will take him under his wing. Tony has some incredible All Black experience as well, so he knows what it takes to play at international level, but he’s obviously a world-class coach now as well and really supporting him.

“Sacha’s reached out, just asking a few questions every now and then as well. So he has the ability to learn, he wants to grow, he knows that he doesn’t know everything yet, so he’s got a growth mindset and wants to get better.

“But you don’t become a world-class first five overnight by having two or three good seasons. You need longevity in the game. And that’s the biggest challenge for him now, is just to build consistency, to make that jersey his. When he does have an off game, it doesn’t really affect the team too much, and builds consistency and continues to try and grow and evolve as he matures in age.”