After naming his team to face Argentina, Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus revealed that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu played the last two matches against the All Blacks with a knee injury.

The 22-year-old, in his debut international season, has been a revelation for the Boks, featuring in every single Test match before being omitted from the squad to travel to Argentina.

Initially, the Springboks stated that he was simply being rested along with six other players for the return match against Los Pumas in South Africa, but Erasmus has now confirmed that is not the case.

In fact, the youngster is set for another spell on the sidelines, missing the start of the United Rugby Championship due to the aforementioned knee injury.

The timing of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s injury

Erasmus stated that Feinberg-Mngomezulu would return in time for the November internationals but the Springboks boss’ demeanour when discussing the injury illustrated that he was far from pleased with the rookie.

“He injured his knee before the first Test against the All Blacks and he played in that game,” Erasmus said.

“The next week on the Wednesday, I asked him why he was limping and he said he injured his knee last week. I wanted to pull him out of that team because he was limping, on the field even.”

It was the fact that he hid his injury from the coaches and the medical staff that really annoyed the Bok coach who added: “What our players must understand; we have respect for everybody, but we must be honest when it comes to injuries.

“Nobody who’s got an injury and 80% ready is better than a Springbok who has no injuries and is 100% ready. So Sacha is lucky that we won those Test matches because he gambled a bit.”

It was evident that Erasmus was livid and rightly so. The former flanker has built the current Springboks squad to always put the team first, no matter what. He has often done this in a brutal fashion like substituting players before half-time, which was the case for Manie Libbok, Bongi Mbonambi and Ben-Jason Dixon.

Other times, he has done it with a more gentle touch, allowing players to have a starting role on milestone occasions or rotating the team simply to provide opportunities.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu has enjoyed a rapid rise in the Springboks squad and his quality is undeniable but, as Erasmus explained, an 80% fit Bok is not better than a 100% fit one and that is particularly true in this case.

If the youngster did not feature against the All Blacks, the Boks had double World Cup-winning fly-half Handre Pollard waiting in the wings with Libbok hot on his heels too.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu has taken to international rugby like a duck to water and settled into the Test squad seamlessly.

“You’d swear they’ve been in the team for five years,” Cheslin Kolbe commented on the fly-half and other rookies.

“Their composure, and how well they remain calm under pressure are impressive. They have a lot of new tricks, and I’m trying to grab as much and stay on par with them.”

Learning the house rules

While it is absolutely true that he looks at home in Green and Gold, he still needs to understand all the house rules and he has learnt the hard way now.

Erasmus seldom minces his words and while he is willing to lather players with praise in press conferences and interviews – and Feinberg-Mngomezulu has got more than his fair share of this – he is just as quick to publicly criticise those who have crossed the line. And in this case, the fly-half did just that.

In this instance, the Test rookie put himself first and not the team. He failed to live up to the high standards the coaches have set for individuals and the team.

Erasmus added that “Sacha is lucky that we won those Test matches because he gambled a bit” and the Bok boss would have made that crystal clear with the back.

The head coach would have also laid into Feinberg-Mngomezulu when bringing his point across and probably would have done it in front of the squad which is also a standard practice. Erasmus also doesn’t appreciate being lied to or deceived – who could forget that World Cup semi-final team talk?

But Erasmus is also a master of knowing where and when to push the right buttons with players like he did with Siya Kolisi, Duane Vermeulen and Eben Etzebeth during the World Cup to expel the threat of a fracture in the leadership group.

Having been a player himself and a Springbok, Erasmus will understand the rationale behind Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s decision to hide his injury as he will have wanted to keep his momentum and starting role as a newbie in the team. He is also clearly a fierce competitor and faced with tackling South Africa’s biggest rival, wanted his shot against the All Blacks. It’s certainly all understandable, particularly for a youngster but, as a professional athlete, you need to listen to your body and thankfully, for the rookie, he did not further aggravate his injury resulting in a longer layoff.

Get the balance right

For a 22-year-old, Feinberg-Mngomezulu is quickly racking up a long history of injuries and while his eagerness and hunger to impress on the biggest stage is an admirable quality, he must be wary of it becoming a harmful trait.

The rugby world is his oyster right now and it will be a real shame should a failure to listen to his body, look after himself and be a better teammate harms him going forward.

As mentioned above, Erasmus will have addressed the issue with the team and not Feinberg-Mngomezulu individually which will have put the rest of the youngsters and players on notice. The Tests against the All Blacks weren’t Rugby World Cup finals, so there was no reason for the youngster to be risked and there were players more than capable of filling his void.

Lessons were learnt from all parties involved and it is important the playmaker takes them on board because international rugby is ruthless and while Erasmus has let it slide this time around, he won’t take kindly to this sort of thing happening twice. He is a fool me once kind of operator with no second or third chances.

In the end, no harm no foul from the results point of view as Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s and Erasmus’ ‘gamble’ paid off but the house eventually wins and the Boks boss will be hellbent on getting his young superstar out of the casino.

Erasmus has emphatically laid down the law and the fly-half now understands what is required of him away from the pitch as well as off it and both parties now know that he is capable of performing against the best in the business and are better off for it.