Salmaan Moerat, Stormers captain, has hailed the performances of Springboks youngsters Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu after his sensational showing against Connacht.
The 22-year-old crossed for three tries in the opening 26 minutes of the clash against the Irish Province in Cape Town on Saturday, which helped the Stormers secure a 34-29 victory.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was named man of the match for his heroics, his second such award since making his long-awaited return from injury.
Youngster’s excellence undone by defensive woes
While the youngster was sublime on attack, his efforts were let down by the Stormers‘ suspect defence, which director of rugby John Dobson spoke frankly about in the aftermath.
Connacht scored in the final play of the match, a score that would have secured a draw at the very least with a conversion sealing the victory, but were denied after a TMO review revealed a blatant obstruction line.
“Look it was a clear obstruction but they opened us up at will and I thought we’d lost the game and honestly, I thought we deserved to,” Dobson told SuperSport after the game.
Still, Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s excellence in the first half was enough to see the side to victory and earn the praise of his skipper, Moerat.
“We all know that Sacha is an unbelievable player,” the lock who captained the Springboks on three occasions last year told reporters.
“The scary thing is that at age 22, we don’t know what his ceiling will be.
“He has his whole lifetime ahead of him. It is scary where he could go. He has carried us through the past couple of games. He is exceptional, and gives players around him confidence.
“He has bailed us out a few times. It is not just about his attacking… He has a great kicking game, and when you are playing games that are near to Test-match level, that is what you need.”
But like his coach, Moerat was disappointed by the performance on defence by the Stormers.
The Norman Laker-coached defensive structure was a cornerstone of the side’s game as they charged to the inaugural URC title but against Connacht, they were repeatedly exposed out wide and conceded soft tries.
Dobson was also livid by his charges’ inability to exit their own half, particularly after just scoring themselves, and Moerat agreed with his coach that that was one of their worst defensive performances in a long time.
“That was our worst defensive performance of the season, and it undermined what we did on attack,” he said.
“We were exposed out wide. Strong defence used to be part of our culture. It’s no good scoring tries if we easily concede them.”
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Stormers’ run-in
The Stormers have three games left in the regular season, starting with a clash against Benetton, who made light work of the Lions this weekend, before hosting Welsh sides the Dragons and Cardiff in Cape Town.
They will have to close out the season without veteran forward Deon Fourie, who sustained a nasty-looking injury moments after coming off the bench in the second half, with Dobson fearing the worst for the 38-year-old.
The win over Connacht saw the Stormers remain in the race for a play-off spot, finishing the weekend in eighth position with a two-point buffer over the Scarlets.
Meanwhile, the Bulls’ victory over Munster meant that they secured their place in the play-offs, while the same is true for the Glasgow Warriors, who edged Zebre 6-14 in a closely fought encounter in Parma.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/springboks-captain-hails-scary-sacha-feinberg-mngomezulu-after-bailing-the-stormers-out
