Boks ride on a Feinberg-Mngomezulu magic carpet

Ahead of the Durban Test against Argentina, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu said as flyhalf for the Springbok team he needed to be a key decision-maker who implemented their kicking plan and saw the space on the field.

The 23-year-old fulfilled that role to perfection at Kings Park on Saturday, producing extraordinary moments of brilliance that brought him three tries and a record tally of 37 points.

It was the sort of single-handed match-winning effort that Springbok teams of old used to get from Naas Botha, except he only scored two tries in a 28-Test career.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu not only grabbed his first three tries in Test rugby, but also set up others, most notably with his inch-perfect kick across practically the width of the field to Cheslin Kolbe for the wing’s 43rd-minute try.

Twice the dazzling flyhalf scored tries based on his own kicking prowess.

The first came immediately after Kolbe’s most embarrassing moment in his stellar Test career when he sent the restart deep into the right corner of the field, where there were no Pumas, and then won the footrace to get there first, gather and dive over in one movement.

It was a crucial score just before the end of a first half in which little had gone right for a Springbok team that made too many basic errors and allowed ill-discipline to creep into their game.

The Kolbe fiasco might have been the last straw that sent their frustrations to levels they could not come back from, but instead Feinberg-Mngomezulu immediately put SA back ahead again.

The prodigy then had to regain the lead again by jinking his way over for his second try after the halftime hooter, when the Springboks had given the advantage away by conceding a penalty try, the otherwise excellent Malcolm Marx being yellow-carded for a side-entry at the maul.

In a poor first half for the home team, one of the youngsters was the shining light, single-handedly keeping them in the contest.

After the superb crosskick, Feinberg-Mngomezulu then showed his mastery of tactical kicking as he booted a pinpoint up-and-under that came down just outside the Argentina 22. It was dropped and from the penalty and lineout that followed, SA were in the shadow of the poles when the flyhalf showed his magic tricks by throwing an outrageous dummy, followed by a twirl and ducking under two tackles to score his hat-trick try.

The Stormers’ star undoubtedly has a huge bag of skills he can choose from, but on Saturday he largely knew when and where to employ each one.

Coach Rassie Erasmus spoke of how important it has been to give Feinberg-Mngomezulu the time to settle at international level, and to learn from experienced heads around him.

If he continues this learning process and has the confidence to take control as he did at Kings Park, he is going to be a superstar by the time the 2027 World Cup begins. He will then be the perfect man to execute the more attacking plans of Tony Brown, alongside a backline of dazzling young talents such as Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok, Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse.

While there has been some criticism of Erasmus for not immediately ditching Handré Pollard given the superb recent form of Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok, this smacks of tone-deafness.

There is space for all of them in a Springbok 23 and sometimes Tests are a hard slog in the rain; more like Test cricket than the extraordinary 97-point limited-overs fare we saw in Durban; and especially in the World Cup, where it is unlikely Erasmus will go into that tournament without the insurance of Pollard in his pocket.

There were other Springboks who shone at Kings Park. While things were going south in the first half, hooker Marx was a pillar of strength and enjoyed his best game this year. He was back to his gainline-dominating best and was one of the few players who did not look lost and bemused in the first half-hour.

But once Feinberg-Mngomezulu seized control of the match in the second half, the South Africans put Argentina away in brutal fashion.

As they showed in the first 20 minutes at Ellis Park against Australia, and in the second half against the All Blacks in Wellington, once the Springboks’ game clicks into gear, it is extremely difficult to overcome the combination of power, pace and flair.