Top 100: Look where Sacha is rated

SPOTLIGHT: Round Three of RugbyPass’ Top 100 Men’s Rugby Players of 2024 is out (41-60) and only two Springboks have been included in this batch.

They are Springbok flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and prop Frans Malherbe.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu is at 47. This is quite significant, as he managed to edge out another one of the rising stars at No. 10, Frenchman Romain Ntamak (49) while the Los Pumas’ Tomas Albornoz comes in above the South African at 44.

Feinbergh-Mngomezulu made his Test debut at Twickenham in June this year and will be remembered for his monster penalty kick inside his own half. It resulted in a huge smile on the face of his coach Rassie Erasmus, confirming to the world what he already knew: The 22-year-old has BMT in buckets.

A couple of weeks later he once again was the replacement flyhalf against the Irish showing off all his brilliance and swagger.

On the tour to Australia, he had done enough to merit a starting berth at flyhalf in both matches and the Springboks recorded a historic 2-0 series win.

His heroics didn’t end there. Despite a niggling knee injury he carried, he managed to aid in victory over the All Blacks at Ellis Park and this earned him more praise from Erasmus.

The injury kept him out of contention for the end-of-year tour to the Northern Hemisphere but his back on the pitch, plying his trade for the Stormers.

There is no doubt that Feinberg-Mngomezulu will form part of the Boks in the future and he will push Manie Libbok and Handre Pollard hard for the regular No. 10 jersey.

His stats reveal that he slotted 86% of his kicks at goal in the United Rugby Championship regular season, 17 percentage points higher than his expected goal-kicking success rate of 69%. This is the biggest overperformance of any player.

Albornoz has been a revelation this season in an Argentine side that had one of their best seasons ever. He started in their last six Test matches and he has showcased vision, calmness, and a cultured left boot.

To top it off he can throw long passes, but it is his instinct that has carved up many defences. Then he can also tackle to complete the full package.

The 25-year-old Ntamak, coming from a rich rugby pedigree, is regarded as one of the most creative flyhalves in France and his winning 50m try against La Rochelle in the last minute of the Top 14 Final in 2023 established his name.

Denis Charvet, ex-French international, had this to say about Ntamak: “He has a dimension that few others have. He has this inner calm, combined with an innate and gigantic talent.”

The 33-year-old Frans Malherbe, ranked at 51, is quite possibly the most important ingredient in the powerful Springbok pack. He is a very technical scrummager as well as being big. This is why he is invaluable.

He can still, at his age, walk into any team on the planet for his rock-solid dependency at scrum time.

* You can now view the list, as Rugbypass gradually releases more players: Top 100 Men’s Rugby Players 2024.

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