The Springbok flyhalf debate was thrust back into the spotlight this week when Victor Matfield expressed his admiration for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu during a United Rugby Championship media gathering.
Matfield said he expects the Stormers’ utility back, who was on the end of year tour to Europe in 2022, to be the next Springbok flyhalf.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has continued to deliver on the rich promise that made him a teen prodigy.
Matfield's plea was for the player to get more game time at flyhalf for the Stormers rather than at inside centre or fullback. That, of course, could come at a cost to incumbent Manie Libbok.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu is certainly in the Stormers' long-term plans at pivot and he has expressed the desire to play in that position. The Stormers, however, have to manage him carefully.
Playing the game at breakneck intensity has meant injury has been a constant handbrake on his young career. Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has more than once expressed the view that the 22-year-old overextends himself. For a player with a developing body, the intensity and regularity of those “contests” are starting to take their toll.
Last year in a game against the Cheetahs, Feinberg-Mngomezulu playing flyhalf, made 21 tackles. Overextending in that sense may sound counter intuitive, especially when playing Test rugby for the Boks is part of the bigger picture. Dobson argues though, the player overreaches physically and his body is paying the price.
Before giving Feinberg-Mngomezulu more responsibility, the Stormers need to get his body in battle-hardened shape. Dobson has long held the view Feinberg-Mngomezulu holds more X-factor in certain areas than Libbok, but that his talents need to be harnessed with care.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu's wider range, extends to his goal kicking. Though Libbok has caught a considerable amount of flak for his goal kicking, it is worth remembering he did not regularly kick at goal until he joined the Stormers.
Libbok slots more pressure kicks than he misses. His kicking routine, and perhaps more importantly the trajectory and elevation he gets on his kicks, make it more susceptible to outside influence.
His quirk-laden routine runs the gauntlet of the shot clock, while his high draw trajectory off the tee brings the wind into play. Without fuss Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicks and strides with confidence.
He and Libbok are gifted ball carriers and distributors, by hand and foot. The former, however, is a front foot operator and brings his physical dimensions to bear when he operates on the gain line.
His ability to operate in congested spaces with the ball, and in defence, makes him more like Handré Pollard than Libbok.
The Boks brains trust may find this feature most alluring when they have to nail their colours to the mast.
Pollard, of course, is the incumbent and after his ice-in-the-veins performances in the latter stages of the last RWC, and with the series against Ireland looming large, will likely remain the Springboks' go-to pivot.
Pollard will be 33 when the next RWC swings by, and injury permitting, should be young enough to be part of the Boks' challenge to capture an unprecedented third consecutive RWC.
Perhaps even more critical than the lead-up to last year's tournament, however, will be the refinement of a succession plan at flyhalf.
However, for Pollard, playing in a fourth RWC is an achievement worth chasing. Given his age and his history with injury he doesn't have to be the frontman when the Boks depart for Australia in 2027. Instead his role could be eerily similar to the one he acted out with such precision in Paris last year.
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