Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu says the Springboks are ready for anything James O'Connor brings to Saturday's Test.
The Springboks have plans in place to deal with veteran Wallabies playmaker James O’Connor when the teams meet for a second weekend in a row, in Cape Town, on Saturday.
In last week’s meeting in Joburg, in the opening match of the 2025 Rugby Championship, the Wallabies shocked the Boks 38-22 at Ellis Park, after the reigning world champions were 22-0 up after 18 minutes.
O’Connor, who returned to the Australian Test team at Ellis Park after a lengthy absence, delivered a good performance, which went a long in helping the Aussies down the Boks for just the second time in their history at the ground.
Trying to stop O’Connor from getting the best out of his backs will be a crucial part of the Boks’ game-plan on Saturday, something alluded to by bench-warmer Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who comes into the Bok team this week after not featuring in Joburg.
The rising star said that O’Connor had caused the Boks a few problems in the first Test, but revealed the team had done their homework and would be able to handle him better in this weekend’s clash.
Solid game
“I think he (O’Connor) had a solid game. In the first 20 minutes (when the Boks dominated) he kind of felt what we were about,” said Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
“In terms of those passes he was getting over the top, we have analysed why and how that happened and we think we have the solutions to stop that from happening [on Saturday]. So I wish him a solid game, but I think we will be able to tie him down a bit better this weekend.”
Speaking about the Boks’ defensive system Feinberg-Mngomezulu added: “There has definitely been a chat because we wanted to figure out why what happened, happened (conceding 38 unanswered points). We have a defence system where we enforce pressure on the opposition. Sometimes we have to concede a few metres on the edges.
“There were system errors leading up to those bridge passes that really caught us out, so those are things we have looked at fixing.
“But sometimes we are going to have to give the opposition a bridge pass, scramble like we always do, and catch them on the next phase.”
No orders
Feinberg-Mngomezulu claimed that the Bok coaches would not give the players orders on how to play this weekend, and that it would be like any other weekend, where it would be up to the players to make the big decisions on the field, depending on what they see and what the game situation is.
“The coaches treat us all like adults. They never really hammer us down on what not to do, in terms of playing what we see, and seeing space, and stuff like that,” explained Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
“But of course they have tried to re-emphasise our traditional way of playing and I think the better we take that on board the less we will have to speak about it in the second half.
“We will just go out there and do it ourselves because unfortunately they are not on the field with us. We have to kind of put our hands up when we don’t bring our part to the party.”
