Cape Town — Sacha Mngomezulu appears to be uniquely wired.
Typically, when a new celebrity speaks to the media, he uses cliches that he may have been instructed to adopt in order to avoid saying anything allegedly incorrect or provocative.
However, Mngomezulu is not your normal rugby player, nor is he afraid to speak his thoughts.
The flyhalf led the Junior Springboks to victory in every Under-20 Summer Series match in Italy in July, when he commanded the team to victory as captain.
However, the United Rugby Championship presents a greater challenge for the Bishops product. Mngomezulu made his debut under difficult conditions, replacing an injured Rikus Pretorius in the last season’s quarterfinal against Edinburgh after only a few minutes.
Coach John Dobson kept him on the bench for the semi-final and final against Ulster and the Bulls because he shown such composure. Mngomezulu wants to push himself further in the next 2022/23 season, which begins on September 24 in Stellenbosch against Connacht (2.30pm kick-off).
“It was awe-inspiring to be surrounded by a successful group comprised of Springboks. The 20-year-old flyhalf told Independent Media at the URC launch in Midrand this week, “I’ve learned as much as I could there, and I believe it has prepared me well for the upcoming URC season.”
“The last one taught me a lot, especially after the quarterfinal — a great confidence booster. The one thing the coaches do right is allowing you to truly own your jersey. I believe this is what gave Manie (Libbok) the most confidence; he made the number 10 shirt his own.
“That is one thing they did correctly, and I intend to make that jersey my own.”
Not to be confused with arrogance, but rather confidence…
And despite his claim that he was still elated with the Junior Boks’ victory, he is eager to join the URC’s big boys.
“During the first game, my adrenaline levels were so high that I hardly felt anything. However, you can sense that the collisions are a bit more difficult, with an additional one or two seconds of struggle (in defense), so it’s clearly a higher level. However, I do not believe I am incapable of doing so,” Mngomezulu remarked.
“When I played my previous game, I didn’t really have the chance to accomplish anything… I stuck to the basics. And while I’m with this group of players, that’s what I’ll be concentrating on for the foreseeable future: mastering the fundamentals, and then I’ll be able to demonstrate my capabilities.
“However, for the time being, they will not know much because I will be making tackles, rucking, etc.”