VIDEO: The 'scary' facts about sensational Sacha

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is barely 23, and he is already an ‘established’ Springbok with eight Test caps.

This past weekend, in a 34-29 United Rugby Championship win for the Stormers over Connacht, the Stormers sensation put his full array of skills on display and had the critics waxing lyrical about his performance.

It was the kind of sophisticated exhibition that elicited comparisons from some pundits who bracketed him to two-time World Cup-winning legend Frans Steyn.

The blue-ribbon display headlined a fortuitous Stormers win and a hit-or-miss performance that put them firmly back in the play-off race.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu ran the show with class, scoring a hat-trick and delivering a Man of the Match performance, which paved the way for the hosts to score five tries.

While the young Bok playmaker received all the plaudits, there was also reason for concern after the Stormers’ defence leaked the same number of tries in what turned out to be a ding-dong battle.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu is a rising star in the global game.

The flyhalf went through the full range of his attacking repertoire with his three tries.

For his first, he tantalised the defence by holding the ball in one hand as he sliced through before scorching away to the line.

His second saw him pirouette out of a tackle and pull off a one-two with flank Paul de Villiers to run in under the posts, and he completed a 25-minute hat-trick by collecting his own chip over the top.

If that were not enough, he also delivered an audacious pass to set up Suleiman Hartzenburg’s try and landed four shots at goal for a 24-point haul.

(WATCH as Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat and Director of Rugby John Dobson unpack the Stormers’ desultory performance in a crucial URC win over Connacht at the weekend…..)

Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat said Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s talents and exploits are well documented.

However, few people comprehend just how special he is.

“The scary thing is that [his performance last week] is not the ceiling for him,” Moerat said.

“He is just 23 and still has a whole lifetime ahead of him.

“It is scary where he can go.

“He has carried us through the past few games now and is an exceptional player to have in your team.

“Sacha gives the players around him confidence and has bailed us out a couple of times.

“In a Test match atmosphere like this, that is what you need.”

The Stormers Director of Rugby, John Dobson, felt the ‘fortuitous’ escape – an obstruction ruling chalking off a potentially match-winning try by Connacht – was a “wake-up call” they should heed.

“That performance doesn’t get us close to Benetton,” he said of their opponents in the upcoming Round 16 match.

The Stormers boss admitted the display this past weekend delivered both the best and worst of the Stormers.

“It was our worst defensive performance this season,” Dobson told @rugby365com about the 23 missed tackles that delivered a paltry 77 percent tackle success rate.

“We knew what was coming, but we were defensively very poor.

“[We scored] some worldly tries, but I don’t think we were at our best and got our flow [going] much.”

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