FILE - Springboks starlet Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is tackled during the match against the All Blacks at Ellis Park. The flyhalf will have surgery after sustaining a knee injury. FILE - Springboks starlet Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is tackled during the match against the All Blacks at Ellis Park. The flyhalf will have surgery after sustaining a knee injury. Picture: Phill Magakoe / AFP
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus says that flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will go under the knife after suffering a knee injury against the All Blacks at Ellis Park.
Erasmus revealed on Tuesday night that Feinberg-Mngomezulu tried to keep the injury from the coaching team and the medical team ahead of the second Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks in Cape Town.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu played really well in the Ellis Park cauldron where he started at flyhalf, and then had a top cameo coming off the bench in Cape Town as the Springboks won back-to-back matches against the All Blacks.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu is one of the players who had been rested for the the trip to Argentina, where the Springboks will face Los Pumas in Santiago del Estero on Saturday night (11pm kickoff). But now he will probably only feature again on a rugby pitch during the team’s European tour in November.
"Sacha will only be ready for the End-of-Year tour because of a knee issue," Erasmus said.
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"He injured it during the first Test against the All Blacks and in the following week, I asked him ‘why is he limping?’ He then said he injured his knee in the previous Test.
Normally the Springboks’ protocols prescribes that players who aren’t fully fit on the Monday will not be available for selection.
Erasmus says he was tempted to pull Feinberg-Mngomezulu out of the team, but the flyhalf was adamant that he was ready to play in front of his home crowd in the Mother City.
"I actually wanted to pull him out of the team because he was limping. One of the things that our players must understand, even the young guys, is that they need to be honest with their injuries,“ Erasmus said.
"Nobody who has an injury and is at 80 percent is better than a player who has no injuries and is at 100 percent. Sacha is lucky that we won those games because he gambled a bit.
“He's having an operation now. We don't know what's exactly wrong with the knee, but it should be ready within four and a half weeks."
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