Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu uses injury lay-off to sharpen his game ahead of Argentina test

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu says he used an ankle injury as an opportunity to improve the technical areas of his game after being ruled out of the Stormers’ United Rugby Championship run-in and the start of South Africa’s international season.

The 23-year-old fly-half was injured during the Stormers’ match against Cardiff at the end of May. His absence meant he could not help his club as the URC campaign reached its decisive stage, while he also missed the opening part of the Springboks’ schedule.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu will return to the starting line-up against Argentina on Saturday and is set to win his 20th cap for South Africa.

“No injury is nice. And I think just finishing, when we got so far in the URC, just to get taken out of there and not be able to help my team was frustrating. And then obviously the Springbok equation was even more frustrating,” Feinberg-Mngomezulu told reporters from Argentina.

Rather than focus on the matches and international opportunities he was missing, the young playmaker said he made a conscious effort to use his rehabilitation productively.

“I’m really not one to dwell. I just kind of used the time to look at the game from a more technical aspect and develop areas of my game that I probably didn’t have time to do before.”

The recovery period also gave him the chance to work closely with the people supporting his rehabilitation and conditioning.

“I had Andy, our strength and conditioning coach, on the phone, and I spoke to a few people. So obviously it was disastrous when it happened. And it wasn’t enjoyable, but I just made the most of the time off.”

Feinberg-Mngomezulu said his hard work during rehabilitation had helped him return without feeling he had fallen significantly behind the rest of the squad.

He is now fit and available as South Africa prepare for the next stage of the Greatest Rivalry Tour, with the Springboks facing Los Pumas in Argentina.

“I don’t feel too far behind because I worked really hard in my rehab. But yeah, I’m just trying to build and then build what I can towards the squad,” he said.

The match will be another significant step in Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s development at international level. His return comes after a frustrating spell on the sidelines, but his time away from competition allowed him to concentrate on technical aspects of his game that had previously been difficult to address during the season.

South Africa’s match against Argentina kicks off at 21:10 on Saturday.