Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu living life in the fast lane with the Springboks

Rising Springbok star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is living life in the fast lane after making his senior international debut against Wales over the past weekend, and he is now looking forward to a busy season with the Boks.

The 22-year-old utility back already has a very impressive resume, having represented SA Schools, captained the SA U20 team and won the United Rugby Championship (URC) with the Stormers.

However, his progress over the past few seasons has been stunted by injury, after he played for the SA A team on their end-of-year-tour in 2022, which slowed his progress, but after an impressive finish to the past URC season, he has finally made the step up to the big leagues.

Relatively fast

“Everything happened relatively fast. Unfortunately, a few injuries led to a lack of game time, which was frustrating,” explained Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

“But on the other hand, it gave me time to understand the game and people on a different level, and I fully understand that I’m in a new system. It has been a fast two years, but I’ve been accompanied by strong people.”

Although he has played most of his rugby for the Stormers at fullback and inside centre, Feinberg-Mngomezulu admits that flyhalf, which he played for the SA U20s, is his preferred position.

With him now firmly in the Bok system he will be looking to learn as much as he can from the players around him and take his game to the next level.

“I just love playing rugby. I had injuries which cost me minutes on the park, but wherever I get time on the field I’ll take it, it doesn’t matter where I play. But at flyhalf especially I like to dictate the pressure of the game,” said Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

“But there’s a lot of work to do and a lot of things to fix. I’m sure with the people around me I’ll get it right. Kicking with Willie (le Roux) and Handre (Pollard), for example, you always pick up something and it’s an invaluable experience.’’

Looking at his debut off the bench in the Boks’ opening Test against Wales at Twickenham last weekend, Feinberg-Mngomezulu admitted that it was a special occasion, made even more impressive by him slotting a monster penalty from inside his own half, soon after coming on the field.

Meant the most

“It meant the most to me. My father, godfather and some of my mates from Cape Town were at the game, so I had a full circle in England, and to share that moment with them was awesome,” said Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

“We work on those types of kicks, and one gets to understand your range, so when you ask for the ball, it is not a gamble. It’s a matter of trust. When the kick happens, it feels like just another practice session, but only in front of a big crowd.

“I asked Pieter-Steph (du Toit, Bok captain for the game) for the ball, and he just said ‘slaan hom’ (kick it).”

Looking ahead to the two Test series against Ireland, starting next week, the Stormers playmaker says that the rivalry that has been building up between the South African and Irish sides in the URC will add an extra bit of spice to the action.

He will hope to be in line to feature again in the coming weeks, either against the Irish or in the one-off Test against Portugal, but regardless will be working flat out on improving his game.

“It (the rivalry) certainly adds to the Tests. It appears as though the teams dislike one another, but we have a bitter-sweet relationship, and it always makes for great Test matches. So hopefully the rivalry continues for a long time,” said Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

“There are no days off here (in the Bok squad). On our off-day I spend most of my time analysing games, so it is quite a challenging environment both physically and mentally.

“Luckily, we have a whole lot of experienced players and coaches in the squad and that transfers into the team. So personally, I just want to go out there and do my job.”