Rassie Erasmus makes bold ‘captaincy’ statement about ‘naturally talented’ Springboks rookie

Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus has heaped praise on youngster Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu after an impressive set of displays so far this year.

The extremely talented playmaker, who can play at either fly-half, centre or full-back, has featured off the bench in all four Tests in 2024.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was particularly excellent in the final two games, playing 78 minutes against Ireland at 15 following Willie le Roux’s injury before starring a week later against Portugal.

Character and leadership

On that occasion he came on for Manie Libbok and showed his vast array of skills as they thrashed Os Lobos 64-21 in Bloemfontein.

Only 22, he is expected to have a long and distinguished Test career, with Erasmus even suggesting that the utility back could take up the Springboks captaincy later down the line.

“Sometimes one underestimates those SA ‘A’ tours and just looks at the results. For a team just to get together on those SA ‘A’ tours, although they lost against Munster and Bristol, getting those guys under a certain pressure with new coaches… you get to know the players,” South Africa’s head coach told reporters.

“He trained with us at the Springboks with full-on contact sessions and you could see the character of the guy.

“Obviously, we know him from our systems and our junior programmes. He’s captaincy material.”

Being an early replacement for Le Roux in the second Ireland international was a big challenge for Feinberg-Mngomezulu but he passed the test despite their narrow loss.

Erasmus was also pleased by what he saw against Portugal and thought that the partnership with Lukhanyo Am was “very interesting”.

‘Pleasantly surprised’

“You put him in at full-back when Willie got injured and we only lost a game by a drop-goal, and it was not because of the way he played. It’s always nice to put a player in [the team] alongside a lot of experienced players,” he said.

“We were all pleasantly surprised when we were down to 14 men, with Lukhanyo (Am) playing 12 and him playing 10 in the second half.

“Not that Manie didn’t play well, I thought Manie had glimpses of brilliance when we were down to 14 men from the second minute.

“Sacha next to Lukhanyo at 12 was very interesting. One must recognise that it’s Portugal, a tier two team that played away from home, but he’s a natural talent.

“None of us sitting here can argue about that, it’s just about how he takes the next step, and how we manage him and help him to take the next step, so I think he’s got a bright future.”