Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, seen here getting his pass away against Connacht, needs his Stormers teammates to stand strong in defence. Photo: BackpagePix
Image: BackpagePix
Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat says his team are grateful to have an attacking genius in flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu – but that his talent needs to be backed up a better team performance on defence.
Moerat is alluding to the flyhalf’s three tries in 27 minutes against Connacht at Cape Town Stadium last Saturday: a feat that was almost undone by his teammates’ woeful defence.
The Irishmen scored five tries, and some would say they were unlucky to lose 34-29.
Stormers coach John Dobson did not hold back in saying his team did not deserve to win because of their defensive inadequacies.
Moerat said: “We all know that Sacha is an unbelievable player. The scary thing is that at age 22, we don’t know what his ceiling will be.
“He has his whole lifetime ahead of him,” Moerat continued.
“It is scary where he could go. He has carried us through the past couple of games. He is exceptional, and gives players around him confidence. I count myself in that number.
“He has bailed us out a few times.
“It is not just about his attacking... He has a great kicking game, and when you are playing games that are near to Test-match level, that is what you need.”
But then came the kicker from Moerat.
“That was our worst defensive performance of the season, and it undermined what we did on attack.
“We were exposed out wide. Strong defence used to be part of our culture. It’s no good scoring tries if we easily concede them.”
Coach Dobson added: “We can’t defend like that. If we continue like that, we can just play our last three home games and call it a season.”
Moerat is right in saying that the Stormers used to be watertight in their backline defence.
It is probably not a coincidence that they have lost their way pretty much since the experienced Ruhan Nel suffered a season-ending injury.
In many professional teams, it is the outside centre that marshals the backline defence – think of Jesse Kriel at the Springboks or Lukhanyo Am at the Sharks (and Boks).
Wandesile Simelane has been exposed on defence for the Stormers at outside centre, and Suleiman Hartzenberg did not work out there recently against Ulster after asking to be moved to No 13 from wing.
Dan du Plessis is more of a No 12 than a 13, and it did not go well for him out wide on defence against Connacht as he made way for Damian Willemse to play at inside centre.
The game settled into a pattern of “we score, you score”, and that is crazy at rugby’s top level.
Moerat and Dobson are right – if you have a Feinberg-Mngomezulu creating tries almost at will, the rest of the team must bank those points by ensuring they are not given away by shoddy defence.
The Stormers have a week to sort it out because this week’s opponents, Benetton, showed against the Lions that they will ask even more questions on defence than Connacht.
The Italians beat the hapless Johannesburg side 42-31 at Ellis Park last Saturday.
The men from Treviso ran in five tries, with flyhalf Jacob Umaga scoring 22 points, including a try, three penalties and four conversions.
But coach Marco Bortolami will be concerned by the four tries they conceded against the Lions, and that will give Dobson confidence that with Feinberg-Mngomezulu calling the shots once more, the Stormers can win the touchdown battle once more.
The key, though, will also be to have a tighter defence, as they cannot afford to leak five tries again, like they did against Connacht.
