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Who will be replacing Ireland's ageing golden generation if they don't make RWC 2027
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Top 100: Why Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the best player in the world
By Owain Jones
The course of this year’s Top 100 players irrevocably changed on 8 March, 28 minutes into France’s Six Nations dust-up with Ireland, when Antoine Dupont – by most neutral’s metrics, the best rugby player in the world – ruptured his cruciate ligament as he was cleared out of a ruck. The prognosis reckoned the pocket dynamo would be lucky if he returned to play before 2026.
A phrase rhyming with clucking bell ran through this writer’s mind, on hearing the news. Dupont had been the front-runner and it would take some player to knock him off his perch. It was time to see if any mere earthling could step into the master’s shoes and showcase a repertoire of skills that could quicken the pulse of fans and freeze the blood of opposition players when reading his name on the team sheet. Fortunately, a cocksure young buck from the Western Cape swaggered onto the Test scene and duly delivered.
Step forward Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. At 23, he is a proud Gen-Z, unafraid to express himself and eschew tradition, who happens to possess magic in his feet and hands. Like a golfer who has perfected the formula between speed and power, Feinberg-Mngomezulu seems to strike the ball differently. Able to clear his lines with a 50m ‘driver’, or flat-foot a defence with a deft lob-wedge over the top, he has a cultured right boot that can find ravenous wide-men with pinpoint accuracy. In short, he can toy with defenders, unsure which club he’s going to pull out.
With the ball in hand, he is a medley of flicks, feints, reverse passes and out-of-the-back-door sorcery, revelling in putting heavy-duty carriers through the faintest of gaps and he boasts a turn of pace that can leave defenders clasping at his vapour trails. He boasts style, sure, but substance in spades. He crossed the whitewash nine times in his last six Tests over the past three months, surpassing any other Springbok fly-half’s try tally in their 134-history, and ran up a record 37 points against Los Pumas in Cape Town.
What this writer likes about him, is his edge. Many tens are targeted to put them off their game, but Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who is 6ft 1in and 94kgs, has snarl. He doesn’t mind putting ‘shots’ on opposing players, regularly hits double-figures in the tackle stakes and stands his ground. Indeed, he revels in the niggle of a white-hot atmosphere. This temperament, if controlled, should stand him in good stead for the next decade.
Dupont, who has returned in recent weeks, typically showing less ring rust than most, has taken second spot due to his 288-day absence, but to omit him from the list would make little sense. He has still played in 13 games, and if Lionel Messi had an injury lay-off, would he be absent? I don’t think so.
As pointed out in our inaugural 2024 list, the placings aren’t spat out by an automated AI prompt. No, it’s human judgement knitting together a series of factors; match-winning influence, feats of awe-inspiring physical power, raw athletic ability and mental fortitude under duress. They have been assembled by 12 journalists, covering the globe with over 200 years’ worth of experience writing about the game. It is entirely subjective.
There are fallers, of course. The mixed fortunes of Ireland and New Zealand have seen their players slide, but they still have heavy contingents. The sight of a haunted Andrew Porter bested by a rip-snorting Springboks scrum will take some time to erase from the memory. Time is cruel and some older players, like Beauden Barrett and Bundee Aki, are raging against the dying light as their influence wanes. Some individuals, like Len Ikitau, Damian Willemse and Cam Roigard have run into a rich vein of form that has seen them rocket up the list.
The top 10 has a new entrant in Thomas du Toit, a man the size of a house, who can exert pressure on both sides of the scrum and score a hatful of tries. What’s not to love. England’s baker’s dozen is an improvement on the 10 players they had listed last year and most have moved up the list after their 11-game unbeaten run.
At No 47, Henry Pollock, who was last year still getting teenage kicks at age-grade level, has made his name as an agent provocateur par excellence, who also happens to be a spellbinding rugby player, capable of bums-off-seats brilliance, and importantly transcending our, at times, conservative sport, in a similar fashion to Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Another country to rubber stamp their class is Argentina. Their contingent is up from six to eight players and is testament to a year in which they have run amok with Latin flair and ruffled the feathers of the world’s best.
Of course, with any list, there are players who have been inked in before another more compelling addition has been added and left us with regrets. Someone like Tom Willis, who has been, at times, unplayable for England and Saracens, or the mercurial Matthieu Jalibert, who cannot quite prise apart the watertight partnership of Dupont and Ntamack. Then there’s the prolific Georgian Aka Tabutsadze, or the Fijian human Exocet Bill Mata. Few would have quibbled with any of these players’ inclusion, and the same goes for Kwagga Smith, Jack Crowley or Ethan de Groot. All will be under consideration in 12 months time.
What I hope more than anything, is that lovers of our beautiful game learn something, or are able to debate with friends the merits of players and their placings, without descending into rancour or abuse. If you asked a 1000 fans for their Top 100, it would surprise no-one if every list was different. It was a hugely enjoyable process and we thank fans for their mostly engaging discourse to date.
In truth, we considered making this list biennial but with 17 players dropping out, and 17 newcomers replacing them (hello Thomas du Toit, Ollie Lawrence, Tom Curry and Fabian Holland), and others yo-yoing up and down the list, we are glad we’ve made it annual, so thanks once again for the support.
Rugby’s best of the best, ranked by experts. Check out our list of the Top 100 Men's Rugby Players 2025 and let us know what you think!
