Scores of South Africans have come out guns blazing against a rugby critic who claimed Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu had a “bad attitude”, and another who claimed he was “windgat”.
This follows the young Springbok flyhalf’s yellow card for a foul in a recent Stormers vs Scarlets game.
RUGBY CRITIC CRITICISES SACHA’S ‘BAD ATTITUDE’
In a clip posted by sports broadcaster Omnia Audio Africa, rugby critic Brett Burns called out Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for getting into a scuffle during last week’s Stormers game against Scarlets.
The 23-year-old received a yellow card for fighting Welsh opponent Taine Plumtree, who is the son of Sharks coach John Plumtree.
The critic said: “[Stormers boss] John Dobson doesn’t have a choice but to pick Sacha. You need him in your franchise. All [Springboks coach] Rassie [Erasmus] has to do – he doesn’t even have to have a conversation – he just doesn’t have to pick him in the end-of-year tour…..Rassie just makes a statement that ‘we don’t have time for that in our team. Fix yoursel’
The critic continued: “I don’t think anybody needs to have a chat, because the country is chatting. Every single social media platform…it is all about Sacha and his bad attitude. It’s going to catch up to him very quickly.”
@omniaudioafrica Brett Burns “Should Rassie drop Sacha?” @brettburnz #springboksrugby #rugbychampionship #urc #sarugby #boks #rugby #sachafeinbergmngomezulu #stormersrugby
‘HE IS WINDGAT’
Last month, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was criticised by another rugby critic, former Springbok, John Allan.
In an appearance on the Be A Sport podcast, the retired player questioned if the 23-year-old was ready to take on Argentina’s Los Pumas in the Springboks starting line-up in Durban’s Kings Park Stadium.
He said: “I am just surprised that Rassie (Erasmus) has not started [Handre] Pollard. That’s my boy. He’s played Sacha, who I think personally is a bit windgat. And might cost us the game.”
Allan was later forced to eat his words after Sacha became the Springboks’ highest try scorer in a single test match, earning the team 37 points.
@beasport17 Handré Pollard or Sacha FM? That is the Question! #BeASport ♬ original sound – Be A Sport
RUGBY FANS DEFEND SACHA
Comments criticising Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, particularly over him losing his temper, did not bode well with many rugby fans.
Many argued that the comments were tinged with racial undertones.
Informal normal: “Covert racism hides behind respectability. When a young POC asserts himself — through confidence, emotion, or dominance — it’s framed as defiance, not excellence. His autonomy is dissected, his passion pathologised. It’s not his aggression they fear, it’s his freedom to be fully himself.”
Sakhilevanqa: “The thing I realised about them is that they genuinely don’t realise the root cause of their biases. They genuinely think it’s cos he has an attitude problem, but when it’s someone with a lighter skin, it’s called heart or passion.
Sbu Mankwali: “Eben was like this and y’all said he was an enforcer. Sacha ‘the country is chatting’”.
Devdondidit: “When Hougaard of the Bulls was so controversial with his life off the pitch, where were these guys? People of colour will always be scrutinized more than whites.”
Podcaster and former schoolboy rugby player Penuel Mlotshwa accused critics of showing “racial bias” towards Sacha.
He said in a TikTok video: “It may not even be intense racism, where certain white players do something that may be deemed controversial, it’s ‘passion’. But they don’t offer the same protection when it comes to players that are black and coloured”
@godpenuel Here to defend Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu from the haters…
