Advertisement

Record breaking Sacha dazzles for dominant Boks

football27 September 2025 17:00| © AFP
Share

The Springboks took one big step towards retaining the Castle Lager Rugby Championship trophy as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu confirmed his global superstardom by spearheading a massive 67-30 win for the world’s No. 1 team over Argentina in Durban on Saturday.

Hollywoodbets Kings Park has proved a bit of a bogey venue at times over the years and for a while it looked like it might be a repeat, as in a bizarre 10 minutes before halftime, the South Africans took control, then released it again by gifting their opponents points and then regaining the initiative again through flyhalf Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s genius.

He’d already announced himself on the global stage before this, but this was the game where Feinberg-Mngomezulu really took the game by the scruff and revealed just what a talent he is as he scored a hat-trick of tries and completed an almost immaculate place-kicking performance for a combined total of 37 points.

That put him two ahead of Percy Montgomery, who held the previous Bok record for an individual points scoring tally in a single match achieved in a World Cup warmup game against Namibia in Cape Town in 2007.

It was a sublime performance from the pivot, nothing less than that, with his contribution spreading much wider than just his points tally. His jinking runs infused the Boks with confidence just when they needed it after a bizarre sequence of tries conceded, and once he put them on the front foot, there was no letting up from him and his teammates, who produced an exquisite combination of power, skill, and pace after halftime.

RAN RIOT AFTER HALFTIME

The Boks ended up scoring nine tries to three, which means they clinched a bonus point to go with the four points for the win to power them to the top of the Rugby Championship log with next week’s final round of matches, featuring Australia hosting New Zealand in Perth and these two teams clashing in London, to come. Their one-point lead on the All Blacks, combined with a very healthy points differential advantage, means they just have to win at Twickenham to retain the trophy.

For a while, there were some concerns, with the Boks conceding way too many penalties in a first half where they constantly ground at the Pumas without taking proper control. Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked the first points of the match through a calmly taken long-range penalty, then his opposite number, Santiago Carreras, responded with one for Argentina, followed by another to give his team a 6-3 lead after 15 minutes.

At that stage, not everything was working for the Boks and the talk in the press box was about how the Boks seldom hit their straps in Durban. That continued when, after Feinberg-Mngomezulu had raised the flags to level the scores at 6-all after 21 minutes, Carreras punished another Bok error to reclaim a three-point advantage for his team four minutes later.

At that stage, it looked like being tit-for-tat, but little did we know what was coming. Eben Etzebeth drove over in the left corner for what looked like a well-constructed try, only for it to be chalked off because of a little knock from scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, who effectively had the ball kicked from his hands.

A penalty was awarded to the Boks instead of the try and from that kick, the Boks set up the lineout from which they drove over for a try dotted down by Malcolm Marx.

That meant the Boks went 11-9 ahead but then the drama really started, with Cheslin Kolbe dropping back to dot the ball down behind his own tryline. He then tried to kick it to a teammate for the drop-out, but rather stupidly, he dropped-kicked it to give the appearance, at least to the alert Argentina centre Santiago Chocobares, that he had restarted play as the ball came to him just beyond the Bok tryline.

There was a surreal silence in the stadium as he celebrated and it took a while for spectators to figure out what had happened. But referee Angus Gardner, after consultation with the TMO, was correct to award the try.

SACHA TAKES CHARGE

Kolbe could not have looked more crestfallen at the realisation that he had gifted the Pumas seven points, but he was quickly given some salvation as Feinberg-Mngomezulu put a deft kick ahead that at one stage looked like it might net a 50/22 but the No10 won the race to the ball to dot down.

His conversion regained the Boks the lead with halftime just a few minutes away, but massive drama was to follow, as Marx was yellow carded for coming in at the side to prevent a Pumas driving maul try and the visitors were awarded a penalty try that put them 23-18 ahead.

To those of us at the stadium, it looked like that would be the halftime score, but the penalty try was awarded just before the hooter, so play continued for several minutes, and by keeping their attacking cohesiveness going, eventually Feinberg-Mngomezulu was again able to use his genius to wrong-foot the defenders and score.

The conversion made it 25-23 and there had been five tries in the last 10 official minutes of the half. It was still a close game but it was clear by then that the Boks were starting to take control, and the game moved in their direction in inexorable fashion when Wilco Louw came on to help a seven-man scrum destroy their opponents.

But that was not before another telling moment from Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who put across a pinpoint cross-kick for Kolbe to go over and score. Suddenly, it was a nine-point game after 43 minutes and then came another jinking try from close range from Feinberg-Mngomezulu to make it a 16-point advantage.

THIS WILL BE REMEMBERED AS 'THE SACHA TEST'

Although some lax defence did allow the Pumas to score a try to bring the deficit back to nine, it really was all the Boks from then and their skill levels when it came to handling were nothing short of masterful as the big men and the backs dovetailed perfectly to put the Pumas all at sea.

Reserve scrumhalf Morne van den Bergh came on and almost immediately dotted down to complete a great sustained attack from the Boks, big Pieter-Steph du Toit ranged up wide to score near the corner flag, and then reserve flyhalf Manie Libbok, who came on for Damian Willemse to allow Feinberg-Mngomezulu to continue his heroics as a fullback, kicked and chased for a try of his own.

And then, just to round it all off, Du Toit was over between the posts at the last to complete the scoring and give Feinberg-Mngomezulu the chance to kick the conversion he needed to lay sole claim of the record. What a night. This will always be remembered as “The Sacha test”.

SCORES

South Africa 67 - Tries: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3, Pieter-Steph du Toit 2, Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Koble, Morne van den Bergh and Manie Libbok; Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 8; Penalties: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2. Argentina 30 - Tries: Santiago Chocobares and Tomas Albornoz; Conversions: Santiago Carreras 2; Penalty try: Penalties: Santiago Carreras 3.

Advertisement