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.<\/p>\n
Dobson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Central to the Stormers<\/a>\u2019 slump is the form of highly rated playmaker Feinberg-Mngomezulu<\/a>, who has not been good. And against the Lions, he looked a pale shadow of the player who shone for the Springboks<\/a> during last year\u2019s Autumn Nations Series tour in Europe.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Springboks\u2019 first choice fly-half<\/p>\n After making his Springboks debut against Wales in 2024, Feinberg-Mngomezulu has cemented himself as the world champions\u2019 first-choice fly-half, and he has already made 19 Test appearances for the world champions.<\/p>\n However, his underwhelming form has led to him receiving plenty of criticism, and Dobson<\/a> admitted that it\u2019s perturbing with the Stormers set to face the Bulls in Pretoria this weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cThe noise around Sacha is a concern. He is a youngster, and there is so much emotion in the sport,\u201d said the Stormers boss.<\/p>\n \u201cSacha 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThere 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n Tony Brown\u2019s simple message to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to help him regain his best form<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t become the world\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, Springboks attack coach Tony Brown was asked for his opinion on Feinberg-Mngomezulu\u2019s poor recent form, and his advice to the playmaker was to stop putting pressure on himself when playing for the Stormers.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 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\u2019s easy for him,\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n \u201cSacha understands his role (in the Springbok set-up). He doesn\u2019t have to do everything on his own. The Stormers are in a bit of a slump, and he\u2019s probably trying to do too much by himself.<\/p>\n \u2018Use the players around you more\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIf I have to say something to him, it would be: use the players around you more, don\u2019t always try to take everyone on yourself. Let the players around you help you.\u201d<\/p>\n