Sacha Feinburg-Mngomezulu scores for the Stormers.
Sacha Feinburg-Mngomezulu scores for the Stormers.
It appears that only rest is required for Stormers and Springboks prodigy Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu after suffering his latest injury against the Sharks at the weekend.
Three games in a row the breakthrough star has failed to reach half-time in his return from a knee injury.
The first incident was a concussion against the Sharks in the early part of the festive period. He then recovered from that to face the Lions, but a massive hit from Asenathi Ntlabakanye gave him a hip pointer injury.
Fortunately, that was not long-term and Feinberg-Mngomezulu was named to play in the return fixture against the Sharks where he damaged his collarbone in the opening play of the game. He would soldier on until just before half-time but was eventually removed.
Rest only required
Reports from Netwerk24 suggest the Stormers man has damage to his sternoclavicular joint and there is evidence of a fracture, meaning that rest is required.
Understandably both Feinberg-Mngomezulu and fans alike have been left frustrated by the run of injuries as the playmaker is seen as one of the brightest young fly-halves in South Africa.
However, despite the starlet openly wanting to play fly-half, he is a victim of his own skill-set with the Stormers using him at 12 to accommodate Manie Libbok. Many feel that this concerning run of injuries early on in Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s career is linked to the extra contact in the midfield channel.
Star waiting to shine
This is only a topic of debate because the 22-year-old showed just how important he can be for South African rugby as he put in some impressive performances off the bench against Ireland in the mid-year series before Rassie Erasmus threw him the number 10 shirt against the Wallabies and the All Blacks before injury struck.
While he missed the latter part of the Test season, his mark had been made as arguably the ideal fly-half to run Tony Brown’s new attack with the Springboks. There are options elsewhere with Handre Pollard and Libbok, but the former is more of a game manager while the latter’s erratic goal-kicking counts against him.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu is in some ways a hybrid of the two with the attacking intent and abilities akin to Libbok, as well as the aura and goal-kicking abilities of a Pollard. The Stormer is largely seen as the future of that 10 shirt but early injuries like this are a massive worry.
The Stormers’ next clash is against Sale Sharks where the Cape side must win to stay in the Champions Cup.
