The performance that has put Junior Boks captain on England’s radar
There is a good chance that many England rugby fans were not aware of who 20-year-old South African fly-half Sacha Mngomezulu was this time last week, but after reports have emerged that Eddie Jones is eyeing a swoop for the English-qualified player, interest in him has rapidly grown.
The South Africa under-20 captain was only making his first start for the Stormers on Saturday against Zebre in the United Rugby Championship, and could now find himself in the middle of a tug of war between England and South Africa. Then again, it was certainly an impressive performance in Parma, where he amassed 22 points in a 37-20 win.
Playing at inside centre rather than his favoured fly-half, he kicked 17 points and even scored a try at the end after linking up nicely with fly-half Manie Libbok. In truth, he probably could have scored two tries, but opted to pop the ball to his teammate Herschel Jantjies early in the second half instead of running in for the try himself after pouncing on a loose pass from Zebre.
After guiding the Junior Boks to the Six Nations U20 Summer Series in July, this has been quite a few weeks for the 20-year-old. Jones might be running up a blind alley here though, as the fly-half has shared his ambition to play for the Springboks in the future.
SB Production has shared a highlights reel of his game in Italy; take a look:
Zebre Parma: Jacopo Trulla; Latu Latunipulu, Tommaso Boni, Damiano Mazza, Simone Gesi; Tiff Eden, Chris Cook; Juan Pitinari, Jacques du Toit, Ion Neculai; David Sisi (capt) Andrea Zambonin; Davide Ruggeri, Iacopo Bianchi, Taina Fox-Matamua
Replacements: Luca Bigi, Luca Rizzoli, Matteo Nocera, Gabrielle Venditti, Luca Andreani, Alessandro Fusco, Joey Caputo, Lorenzo Pani.
DHL Stormers: Damian Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Alapati Leuia, Sacha Mngomezulu, Angelo Davids, Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies; Ali Vermaak, Andre-Hugo Venter, Neethling Fouche; Salmaan Moerat (capt), Adre Smith; Junior Pokomela, Willie Engelbrecht, Evan Roos.
Replacements: Chad Solomon, Kwenzo Blose, Brok Harris, Marvin Orie, Nama Xaba, Marcel Theunissen, Paul de Wet, Dan du Plessis.
