DURBAN, South Africa :Coach Rassie Erasmus praised the individual skill of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu after the flyhalf put in one of the great performances in a Springbok jersey in their 67-30 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina at King’s Park on Saturday.
The 23-year-old scored a team test-record 37 points, including a hat-trick of tries, as his vision and pinpoint kicking game kept South Africa in the contest in the first half, and then turned the screw on Argentina in the second.
The bonus-point win leaves South Africa top of the table by a point and in pole position to retain their Rugby Championship crown when they face Argentina again at Twickenham in London in their final fixture next Saturday.
“Nobody can disagree that he was brilliant on the day,” Erasmus told reporters of Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who has long been regarded as a mercurial talent in South African rugby but has not been an instant success.
“What we always say is that you can’t put someone in there (the team) and immediately expect them to be world class. It doesn’t just happen overnight,” Erasmus added.
“In the lead-up to where he was today there were many mishaps and bad kicking in other games he played. Sometimes you must give guys a chance to build a reputation and their skill set at test match level and he is definitely doing that.”
South Africa have scored 15 tries in their last two matches, which includes inflicting a record 43-10 defeat on New Zealand before they faced Argentina.
After an indifferent start to the season with much chopping and changing of players, they are beginning to hit their straps.
“It takes time to swap people in and out and have them play in sync – but we also know how quickly that can change so we won’t get carried away,” said Erasmus.
“We want to build an understanding within the squad so that when we make changes it doesn’t affect our play.”
Erasmus said there were some injury concerns in the squad ahead of their Sunday departure to London.
“Damian (Willemse) suffered a hamstring (injury), Cheslin (Kolbe) injured his shoulder, and Ethan (Hooker) has an ankle niggle,” he said, while also assessing his prop options.
“Thomas (du Toit) has an ankle niggle, so we might draft in Neethling Fouche, and Vincent (Koch) will go with us on tour. We’ll see how Ox (Nche) is doing on Monday.”
