These are momentous times in the life of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The Springboks star has been nominated on the shortlist for both Men’s and Young Player of the Year in the South African Rugby awards.
That comes on the back of a 2025 where he played 11 Tests for his country, with the ‘Boks winning every game when he donned the No 10 jersey.
Now he has reached another milestone in his already glittering career, having captained the DHL Stormers for the first time on the weekend, leading them to a 39-28 Champions Cup victory over Leicester in Cape Town.
The big games just keep on coming for the 23-year-old, with the Stormers facing back-to-back BKT URC fixtures against the Hollywoodbets Sharks over the next two weeks, with further derbies versus the Lions and the Vodacom Bulls to follow.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu heads into this hectic period with a real sense of pride having just taken his bow as skipper.
“It was a great privilege for me and so cool because a lot of the guys that I was leading are the guys that took me under their wing when I was 18, 19,” said the fly-half.
“It was just a full circle thing and having those guys around me made it more of an honour to lead the team because they have been here and done that. It makes me privileged to know there are such good leaders around me.
“Our big boys, the captains of our team, will be back next week. My job was to fill the boots and get a good experience going forward for maybe the future.
“It was a cool moment and I am grateful that the guys took me under their wing.
“Leicester did a great job and put us under some pressure. It made it a hard day to lead, but we got there in the end.
“It was an interesting game and a very tough game. There were times where I needed to rub off other leaders and I was very lucky to have good guys around me.
“They really helped us get through some patches of the game and helped me learn. It was tough, but it was a great experience.
“Whenever I am in this team, I don’t feel like we are going to lose and that’s from the DNA the coaches have enforced on us. Everyone is switched on for 80 minutes.
“I didn’t really feel much pressure, but I did feel responsibility to make sure we won the game.”
It was an eventful afternoon for Feinberg-Mngomezulu who picked up a yellow card for leading with his forearm in a carry, but also slotted four shots at goal to help his team over the line.
“I said in the changing room afterwards the coaches can only do so much,” he revealed.
“When we follow the game plan, we put points on teams and we fire shots and I think we are very successful with those. Sometimes we drift off plan.
“We are 12 games into the season in the two competitions, so we have still got a lot of time, and learning on days when we are winning is phenomenal for us.
“It’s now up to the playing group, not the coaches anymore, because we get clear instructions. It’s up to us to step it up a notch and play like we are going to carry out a proper game plan.
“The forwards are doing such a good job and it’s up to us as backs to finish off those opportunities.”
Reflecting on competing on two fronts, he said: “Being year five of BKT URC and four of (Investec) Champions Cup, we are getting to understand the differences in terms of playing teams from different countries.
“It’s a big mix up week to week, but it’s also a great challenge.”
Now it’s back to the BKT URC where the Stormers have won eight out of eight to lead the way at the top of the table.
They welcome the Hollywoodbets Sharks to Cape Town on Saturday and then face the return fixture in Durban seven days later.
“We have got two massive local derbies coming up,” said coach John Dobson.
“We can see what the Sharks roster is going to look like.
“We want to keep that unbeaten record in the BKT URC, so we are going to put everything into the next two weeks.”
Giving his thoughts on the win over the Tigers, Dobson said: “It was a stressful game, but a brilliant game of rugby.
“I thought Leicester were really good, they put us under a lot of stress.”
Having won three of their four Investec Champions Cup pool matches, the Stormers will travel to French club Toulon in the last 16 on the weekend of April 3-5.
“We really think we have got a squad that can compete properly in Europe and that’s always been our dream,” said Dobson.
“We feel we can go deeper than we have ever gone in the competition.
“I am really chuffed with the growth in the depth of our squad. We have used 46 players this season which is really good for us. We are much better positioned than we were a while ago.”
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