KEO UNCUT: Focus on what Feinberg-Mngomezulu gets right - TimesLIVE

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is a fabulous rugby player. The Stormers No 10 has played the All Blacks seven times in the past three seasons and been on the winning side in six.

The victories have been in South Africa, in New Zealand and on neutral ground in the most recent match in Baltimore, US.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu — asked to start against the Pumas in Buenos Aires after a three-month injury-enforced lay-off — played 80 minutes, with the last quarter at fullback.

He started all four Tests against the All Blacks, and his contributions were big, if not necessarily of the sizzle he displayed when scoring 37 points against Argentina in Durban in 2025.

The 37 points are the most ever scored by an individual in a Test for the Springboks, which eclipsed Percy Montgomery’s 35 points.

The Durban performance was extraordinary, but when he does not produce an individual performance of such magnitude, the common response — at least from what I have viewed on social media and in mainstream media — is that he was ordinary.

He has never been ordinary for the Springboks. He was inaccurate and rusty on his Test return, but not ordinary.

He had important plays in Buenos Aires, and the biggest victory was that he got through 80 minutes after a serious ankle injury, which required surgery, in the United Rugby Championship quarterfinal.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu settled into Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test series, and his contributions were bigger with each match, and his versatility and skill set meant coach Rassie Erasmus could move him to fullback in the latter stages and introduce Manie Libbok at No 10.

It worked a tactical treat and was never an indictment of Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s performance at flyhalf.

When the iconic Pieter-Steph du Toit is moved from blindside flank to lock in a tactical shift, the player is lauded for being so good in either position.

The same should be true of Feinberg-Mngomezulu. He is special, and South Africans should be fortunate that he wears the green and gold.

There is nothing conventional about how he plays at No 10 and he will continue to add maturity and growth to his all-round game with every Test played.

He can do it all and is defensively the most physical No 10 playing Test rugby. There are those who argue that he takes too much contact and should be more circumspect about it.

But it will never be his way. His instinct is to get stuck in, either on attack or in making the tackle. And he made plenty of important tackles in the four-Test series against the All Blacks.

He was influential in being able to carry the ball into contact and make post-contact metres and initiate momentum and quick recycled balls.

His line kicking was good, and he averaged 75% off the kicking tee. His penalty goal to give the Springboks a 29-17 lead in Soweto was the clutch moment of the three tests in South Africa.

It may have looked regulation on television, but the wind was swirling at the stadium, and his All Blacks counterpart Ruben Love had missed two conversions and a near-identical penalty.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu grew in stature with each Test while Love faded after a strong Ellis Park display.

Love had minimal impact in Cape Town’s second Test and in Soweto he had no significance. He was dropped for the fourth Test.

I found it bizarre that in nearly every “Best of Combined Test XV” from the series, Love was a unanimous choice as the best No 10 over the four Tests.

It is absurd. I watched each Test twice on replay, outside of the live event, and the maturity in Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s control and improvement in his game management was obvious as the series and player pressure intensified.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu is always going to back himself to kick a drop goal from 50m, a penalty from 60m and make that 50m line kick. On occasion he misses and gets it wrong.

My focus is on what he gets right, and he gets so much right.