Dobbo admits to Sacha 'mistake' as stalwarts return
SPOTLIGHT: Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson took responsibility for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s dip in form after appointing him as captain earlier this season.
Dobson addressed the media ahead of their rescheduled United Rugby Championship Round Eight clash against the Bulls.
The mercurial Stormers playmaker has been under scrutiny for his recent performances after assuming the captaincy in the Champions Cup against Leicester Tigers.
He donned the skipper’s armband against the Sharks in the URC in two defeats before relinquishing it to JD Schickerling against the Lions.
Dobson admitted he might have put too much pressure on Feinberg-Mngomezulu with the captaincy added to his responsibility as his team’s game driver.
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“He’s very keen to captain. We’ve had discussions regarding his future,” Dobson said.
He added: “He’s got captaincy material – I think the mistake I made was the obvious overload of [responsibilities].
Whilst Scotland flyhalf Finn Russell dubbed himself as Rugby’s Lionel Messi, Dobson referred to Feinberg-Mngomezulu as the David Beckham of the game.
Russell made the tongue-in-cheek comment in a Six Nations documentary saying: “I’d be like [Lionel] Messi if you were a football fan”
Dobson paid the Bok playmaker affectionately dubbed SFM the Beckham compliment, but said he will require time to grow into a leadership role.
“I mean, he’s the David Beckham of South African rugby now in terms of the profile.
“He is the X-factor guy. Our No.10 and everybody’s No.10 is the game driver.
“Our flyhalves are the ones calling the plays, and then to add the captaincy onto a then 23-year-old – it was our mistake.”
Also read: ‘A Stormer is always under extra pressure’
Dobson said they had spoken to the playmaker regarding the captaincy being revoked from him, and he understood the decision.
“We had a chat with him and told him, ‘Sach [Sacha], maybe just focus on two of those three things now’ and he was very respectful.
“I know he wants to captain and he was very accepting of it, but in a couple of year’s time he’s going to be an absolutely exceptional captain.
“I must take the responsibility for rushing him and putting him under too much pressure.
“It also changes the character around the team a little bit because the responsibility is all on one guy.
“I didn’t empower players around him enough. So it’s probably more our fault than his fault, but I’ve got no question around his captaincy ability.”
Dobson also confirmed the return of several stalwarts, which could also influence another change in leadership.
The Stormers have had five captains so far this season, with JD Schickerling the latest to assume the responsibility against the Lions.
“Returning players who are available for selection are Deon Fourie, Dan du Plessis, Ruhan Nel, and Seabelo [Senatla], who might be back from the long-term injury squad,” Dobson told Rugby365.
“I thought JD [Schickerling] went fine. He did what he could.
“He asked for a penalty try and kept the team together.
“Our penalty count was [low] at seven, and he did everything he could and will be in the frame to captain again this weekend.
“I don’t think we’ll put the pressure back around Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu because there’s logic around that.
“If a Ruhan [Nel] or Deon [Fourie] come into the fray, we can have a look at them; otherwise, we’ll carry on with JD.
“We haven’t selected the team yet. We won’t bounce it straight back to Sacha as JD did a reasonable job against the Lions.”
