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The Springbok coach said the flyhalf suffered a hip pointer in the warm-up, and was not the worst Bok on the field.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu suffered a hip pointer in the warm-up before the Georgia game. Picture: Johann Meintjes/Gallo Images
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said he was not too concerned about flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotting just one of his five kicks against Georgia on Saturday.
He noted that other Springboks made more mistakes, while Feinberg-Mngomezulu picked up a hip pointer injury in the warm-up. Besides, he is younger than the other flyhalves, may not be his first-choice No 10, and still has plenty to learn.
Sacha 20% against Georgia
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23, missed his first three conversions during the Springboks’ 55–10 demolition of Georgia in Mbombela. He slotted his next one and then missed his last before being substituted by Handré Pollard early in the second half.
The experienced ace nailed all four of his conversions and even scored a try in the 36 minutes he was on the field, adding 13 points to the scoreboard himself.
It followed Manie Libbok missing his first two conversions against Italy last week, though he rallied well to slot the next five.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu had a far better kicking record than his Stormers teamate, Libbok, in this past season’s United Rugby Championship. He finished with a 85.7% kicking success compared to his senior’s 72.6%. But Erasmus said goal-kicking was not the be-all and end-all of a flyhalf in his system.
The Springbok coach said Feinberg-Mngomezulu is “not necessarily the first-choice 10” in the set-up.
“We’ve got Manie, who’s on song and when Handré came on you saw he is solid in that,” Erasmus said. “If you just look at Sacha’s goal-kicking, the first [three] he missed, I think after that he did pretty well.”
Coaches weren’t sure whether to play him after hip pointer
The coach said Feinberg-Mngomezulu suffered a hip pointer in the warm-up to the game and coaches were not sure if they should still play him.
“But he wanted to play,” Erasmus said. “I don’t know if that’s an excuse for the way he kicked at poles. But he definitely ran it out. We like flyhalves who try things on the field, not just to play in their box and be safe.
“He was settling, he wasn’t one of the guys who made the most errors.”
He said there were “lots of guys” who made errors because of Georgia’s disruptive game play, which Erasmus commended.
“So no, I am not frustrated with Sacha. It is only his second start this year. Again, he is young compared to our other flyhalves.”
Libbok and Pollard are five and eight years his senior, respectively. He has nine Test caps compared to their 20 and 81.
