Rassie Erasmus said it would be “stupid” not to start Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu against the All Blacks after being asked whether he is throwing the Test rookie in the deep end at Ellis Park.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has retained the No 10 jersey and will face the All Blacks for the first time in his career in Johannesburg on Saturday.
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The 22-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough Test season, making his Bok debut off the bench against Wales and Twickenham and proving his level-headedness in the July series against Ireland.
However, games against the All Blacks have broken some of the most talented players, most notably Gaffie du Toit, who burst onto the scene 1998 as an exciting youngster, but was left broken after being publicly blamed for a 28-0 loss to New Zealand in Dunedin.
Du Toit played one more Test – a 34-18 defeat to the All Blacks in Bloemfontein – and was dropped for the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, before Jake White recalled him in 2004.
When asked whether he might be similarly throwing Feinberg-Mngomezulu to the wolves, Erasmus explained that the Stormers star’s development has been very carefully managed.
“The only guy that I remember that wasn’t maybe shielded was maybe Gaffie du Toit. I played with him at a Test match, and he was thrown in Dunedin against an All Black side,” Erasmus recalled.
“I didn’t even want to look at him in the eyes as we walked out of the tunnel. He was thrown in at 10 and was basically carried off and never played for the Springboks again (until 2004).
“Sacha is not the same. Sacha was marked in the U15 and U16 systems, he played for the SA schools, he was captain of the Junior Boks, he played U20 rugby at the highest level, he played SA A games, in the mid-week games he trained against the Springboks in 2022 end-of-year tour.”
Erasmus added that Feinberg-Mngomezulu will be given the freedom to play his game and make the occassional error as part of the process of building his ability as a Test rugby flyhalf.
“Let him make some mistakes,” he said.
“He’s played in his sixth game now, so we have been building up from Wales, Portugal, Australia… going up like that. To now take it away from him at the highest level would be stupid.”
Photo: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images
The post Sacha no Gaffie to Rassie appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
