Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has jumped to the defence of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu after the Springboks star was not at his best when in action for the Cape Town-based outfit recently.
Dobson’s troops made an outstanding start to the 2025/26 United Rugby Championship (URC) campaign as they won their first eight matches in the competition and were sitting pretty atop the standings early in January after securing a clinching 13-8 victory over their arch-rivals, the Bulls, in Cape Town.
Since then, their URC form has been poor as they suffered successive defeats in Cape Town and Durban against the Sharks on back-to-back weekends in late January.
After a four-week break in the URC, the Stormers returned to action in a South African derby against the Lions at the end of February, but once again, the men from the Cape failed to deliver the goods as they were on the wrong end of a 24-10 result.
Central to the Stormers’ slump is the form of highly rated playmaker Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who has not been good. And against the Lions, he looked a pale shadow of the player who shone for the Springboks during last year’s Autumn Nations Series tour in Europe.
The 24-year-old is highly rated around the world, and his career has gone from strength to strength since making his debut for the Stormers during their triumphant URC campaign in 2022.
Springboks’ first choice fly-half
After making his Springboks debut against Wales in 2024, Feinberg-Mngomezulu has cemented himself as the world champions’ first-choice fly-half, and he has already made 19 Test appearances for the world champions.
However, his underwhelming form has led to him receiving plenty of criticism, and Dobson admitted that it’s perturbing with the Stormers set to face the Bulls in Pretoria this weekend.
“The noise around Sacha is a concern. He is a youngster, and there is so much emotion in the sport,” said the Stormers boss.
“Sacha was being hero-worshipped a few months back, but anyone now can say what they think and be published (on social media), and the stuff gets around, never mind what respected journalists say.
“There are a lot of comments about him, and he would have to be extremely tough for it not to affect him. He is a youngster with a massive future and will be a great for South African rugby.
“I just cannot understand how there can possibly be vitriol towards a guy who has such X-factor and so much promise for the Stormers and Springboks.
Tony Brown’s simple message to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to help him regain his best form
“You don’t become the world’s best game-managing fly-half in your first couple of years. It will come, but he has to serve the hours. He will definitely get there.”
Last week, Springboks attack coach Tony Brown was asked for his opinion on Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s poor recent form, and his advice to the playmaker was to stop putting pressure on himself when playing for the Stormers.
“In the Springbok environment, the way we train, the way we play and the way we use every player to do his job, he fits in and it’s easy for him,” said Brown.
“Sacha understands his role (in the Springbok set-up). He doesn’t have to do everything on his own. The Stormers are in a bit of a slump, and he’s probably trying to do too much by himself.
‘Use the players around you more’
“If I have to say something to him, it would be: use the players around you more, don’t always try to take everyone on yourself. Let the players around you help you.”
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Dobson said that although he appreciates Brown’s words of advice, it’s difficult to compare the Springboks set-up to that of the Stormers.
“We listen to what a guy like Tony says. But it is a very different environment at the Stormers, where he has been the captain and is desperate for us to win, to the environment at the national team where there are huge resources on and off the field,” he said.
“You have a massive pack of forwards who can bail you out, and you have guys with hundreds of caps of experience around you.
“So, Tony is dead right in that Sacha is maybe trying to do too much, but we know where it is coming from. He is just desperate for the Stormers to win.
“We would rather have that than somebody who is disinvested or trying to look after his body. We just have to coach better to make sure he takes those right options.”