Season review: Sacha gets a rating out of 10 after stellar campaign
OPINION: It almost feels like a lifetime ago when Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu made his Springbok debut against Wales in Twickenham last year.
On that day, he featured off the bench and introduced himself to international rugby by kicking over an insane 50-metre penalty.
By then, he was already being labelled a “generational talent,” and rightfully so. The wunderkind had shown glimpses of his brilliance at club level for the Stormers, but had to back it up on the international stage.
He lived up to those expectations and had an electric debut season for the Boks. In the process, he bagged a World Rugby Breakthrough Player Of The Year nomination before being crowned SA Rugby Young Player of the Year.
His first season in green and gold was cut short with a knee injury that ruled him out of the end-of-year tour.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, however, returned to action in 2025 and proved he is no fluke.
With the Springboks’ season done and dusted, Rugby365 takes a look back at his first full season as the Bok playmaker, and how he fared.
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Some of the greatest flyhalves to have played the game have a few things in common.
They are good decision-makers; they thrive under pressure; they lead from the front and have Big Match Temperament (BMT). Feinberg-Mngomezulu epitomises these qualities, and he showed it in 2025.
The 23-year-old didn’t just contribute to the Springboks’ success but also brought a sense of calm and assurance that the No.10 jersey is in safe hands for many years to come.
His performances in the Rugby Championship, particularly against Argentina in Durban, were sublime, out of this world, and in fact, jaw-dropping.
In that particular fixture, the youngster notched up a record 37 points, which included three tries, eight conversions, and two penalties to surpass Percy Montgomery’s record for most points scored by a Bok in a single Test.
That performance had “AURA” written all over it.
I remember watching him kick from his own half before running 50 metres to dot over on the far right corner, and I thought to myself – “This guy is the real deal”.
Some would’ve argued that he was expected to dominate Los Pumas and that the real challenge would emerge against France and Ireland.
I agreed to some extent. Feinberg-Mngomezulu did lead the Boks to back-to-back Rugby Championship titles, but he still needed to show his class on a cold night in Dublin or in front of a belligerent crowd in Paris.
During the Springboks’ first game on tour against Japan, he silenced the critics and made light work of Eddie Jones’s team.
In wet conditions, he scored a nonchalant first-half brace and was unplayable, tearing through Japan’s defence and kicking with precision. In simple words: It was too easy for Sacha FM.
A week later, he was named to start against France, and that, ladies and gentlemen, said it all.
That selection meant Feinberg-Mngomezulu had undoubtedly leapfrogged Handre Pollard to become Rassie’s trusted playmaker in big games, with Manie Libbok on the bench as insurance.
He didn’t have his best game against France, but he controlled the controllables.
He delivered great contestable kicks, dictated the tempo of the game, and looked dangerous in attack, en route to accumulating 141 metres with his carries.
His goal-kicking was up to standard, and he scored a wonder-try after linking up on the wrap around with Libbok before outpacing Romain Ntamack on his inside.
His defensive work, which usually goes unnoticed, was top-notch, as he fronted up well against the big French ball carriers.
After the 14-man Boks conquered France on home soil, the Stormers man was named Man of the Match, and he said something very ‘Sacha-like’ in the post-match interview.
He said, “Playing for my country on a Saturday, that’s my dream. It’s all about dreams”.
Well, he got another chance to live out his dream against Ireland in the biggest match of November for the back-to-back World Cup Champions.
In the build-up to that game, Erasmus said he was keen to see how Feinberg-Mngomezulu would handle the “snotklap” that was coming his way.
Yes, the youngster had obliterated New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Japan, and France, but the Irish were a different kettle of fish, and Erasmus knew that.
Luckily, Feinberg-Mngomezulu had picked up valuable learnings heading into the encounter; in fact, the Test against Ireland was his 18th appearance for the Boks.
It was far from a flashy performance, yet it exposed some of his shortcomings and showed us that he is human after all.
He was lucky not to get a yellow card early in the game after a cheap shot on Ireland winger Tommy O’Brien.
Furthermore, he missed a couple of conversions and a penalty, but his overall play was okay, even though he wasn’t required to do much, as the forwards handled business up front in the scrum.
His try in the second half proved to be the difference for the Boks, and it was yet another moment of individual brilliance. After receiving the ball from a scrum, he sliced through Ireland’s defence and shrugged off the tackle of Jamison Gibson-Park to score.
The matches against Ireland and France were supposed to be “tests of character” for the flyhalf, and they were, but he controlled them brilliantly, never looked phased, and showed a high level of maturity that Erasmus will be pleased with.
The final Test of the season against Wales saw another Sacha FM exhibition.
The Boks scored a whopping 11 tries to trash Wales 73-0, and Sacha contributed 28 points, including two tries and nine conversions.
The blemish in his performance was the two conversions he missed; otherwise, it was yet another world-class performance that proved Sacha is inevitable.
The final verdict
There’s really nothing more to say about this guy because he’s just incredible.
He is a global star and the golden boy of SA Rugby; therefore, we need to hype him up as much as we like because he’s ours.
The English media glazes over Henry Pollock all the time; why shouldn’t we do the same with our Sacha?
He is the character we so desperately need to grow the game. He is our point of difference, our go-to man, and we need to back him all the way to the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
Sacha is far from being perfect; in fact, he hasn’t even reached his full potential, and he’ll improve in the coming months and years under the tutelage of Erasmus and John Dobson at the Stormers.
As the Gen Zs would say, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is HIM, and he knows it. For that reason, I rate him a solid 9/10 from this year.
The Springboks will return to action in July next year in the new Nations Championship before facing New Zealand in the Greatest Rivalry. During that period, the frequency many, like myself, will be tuned into is Sacha FM.
