The London anti-apartheid roots of South Africa’s new magician

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s grandfather was an ANC activist who fled to England in 1961, where his dad grew up. Fly half spent three months at a Welsh school

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John Westerby

Wednesday November 05 2025, 6.30pm GMT, The Times

Feinberg-Mngomezulu shares the spotlight with his father, Nick, who is a radio presenter

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If Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu looked perfectly at home during South Africa’s victory over Japan at Wembley last weekend, it should not have been surprising because the Springboks fly half has strong personal ties to London. His father, Nick, was born and raised in the capital, where his grandfather, Barry, a prominent white anti-apartheid activist, was living in exile, returning to his homeland only after the fall of the regime.

When Feinberg-Mngomezulu made his international debut, against Wales in June last year, it just happened to be in London, as the Springboks opted to take their home fixture to Twickenham. A visit to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea, the football team his father has always supported, was posted on social media with the caption: “Back home at the Bridge.”

So it was with good reason that Feinberg-Mngomezulu skipped across the Wembley turf last weekend as though it was his own backyard, scoring two tries in a 61-7 victory to enhance a reputation as the game’s most exciting rising talent. His display left Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks head coach, caught between reining in the increasingly lofty expectations of his No10 and acknowledging what the rest of the world has become acutely aware of in recent months. “He’s got the magic feel for the game,” Erasmus said.

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Against Japan, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23, launched a perfectly weighted high kick, chased it down himself and, forcing a fumble from a defender, picked up to score his first try. Six minutes later he showed startling acceleration to make an outside break in midfield, then outpaced the covering defence. Another line break in the second half created a try for Wilco Louw. Eddie Jones, the Japan head coach, was impressed. “He gives South Africa a different threat,” Jones said. “They’ve always had the aerial threat, but now they have a running threat if they get fast ball. We stood off him and he made us pay.”

Yet this eye-catching performance was a mere cameo compared with the display that had catapulted him to the attention of a wider audience, just a few weeks earlier against Argentina in Durban. This was the game in which Feinberg-Mngomezulu gave an extraordinary all-round display during which he amassed 37 points in a 67-30 victory, including three brilliant tries, the sort that most fly halves simply do not score.

For his first, he launched a diagonal kick from inside his own half and somehow outsprinted the backfield defence to gather and touch down. His second showed the nimbleness of his footwork, jinking over from short range, and he completed his hat-trick by throwing an outrageous dummy from the base of a ruck before plunging over the line. Add to that an inch-perfect cross-kick to Cheslin Kolbe, as well as ten successful kicks at goal from 11 attempts, and you have a fly half confirming the breadth of his talent to the rest of the world with a bang.

This Saturday, Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s latest challenge comes in South Africa’s eagerly awaited trip to the Stade de France, a rematch of their epic World Cup quarter-final against France at the same venue two years ago. Conscious of the increasing levels of attention his fly half is generating, Erasmus is keen to point out that, after only 16 caps, Feinberg-Mngomezulu is still settling into the Springbok No10 shirt, with Handré Pollard and Manie Libbok still very much on the scene.

“We won’t get overexcited because the hype around him is not caused by him, it’s caused by [other] people,” Erasmus said. “Sacha is getting more comfortable in the position, but we face France and have Ireland lined up [for November 22], so we’ll need to make a step up. He’s doing well, but a World Cup has never been won by a fly half younger than 25. [The World Cup] is still two years away and then he’s 25, so he’ll keep growing and we’ll try to manage him correctly.”

While Erasmus’s statement is not quite accurate, his plans to bring Feinberg-Mngomezulu to full maturity for the Springboks’ attempt to win a third consecutive World Cup in 2027 are clear. Jonny Wilkinson was 24 when England lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2003, although he had won more than 50 caps by that stage. Aaron Cruden was only 22 when he stood in for the injured Dan Carter in 2007 and Grant Fox was a few days short of his 25th birthday when the All Blacks won the first World Cup in 1987. But Erasmus’s point, nevertheless, is that Feinberg-Mngomezulu must still back up his abilities with consistent performances if he is to fulfil his considerable talent.

Most dominant tackles by Test fly halves

Since Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu's South Africa debut in June 2024

Table with 2 columns and 5 rows. (column headers with buttons are sortable)

Minimum 400 minutes played

Table: The Times and The Sunday Times•Source: Opta

The first two of those World Cups, of course, did not feature the Springboks, still in isolation because of the horrors of the apartheid regime that Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s grandfather had opposed so stridently. An artist, poet and author, Barry Feinberg was one of many anti-apartheid campaigners who fled South Africa in the early 1960s as repressive government measures grew after the Sharpeville massacre.

Those measures included banning the African National Congress, of which Feinberg was a member, and he moved to London in 1961, becoming part of a community of exiles who continued their struggle from afar. In his case, this meant producing clandestine literature and publicity that could be distributed back in South Africa.

Once apartheid was finally abolished in 1991, Feinberg was able to move back to live in Cape Town. His son, Nick, followed in 1994, the year before South Africa played in their first World Cup and Nelson Mandela famously donned the Springbok jersey, which had previously been viewed by many black South Africans as symbolic of the apartheid regime.

Defenders beaten per match among Test fly halves

Since Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu's South Africa debut in June 2024

Table with 2 columns and 5 rows. (column headers with buttons are sortable)

Minimum 400 minutes played

Table: The Times and The Sunday Times•Source: Opta

Nick, now a well-known radio personality, met Makhosazana Mngomezulu, a lawyer of Zulu descent, and Sacha was born in 2002. He attended Bishops Diocesan College, the prestigious Cape Town private school, and spent three months in 2018 at Llandovery College in Wales. There were suggestions that the nearby Scarlets should attempt to sign him, while Jones, the England coach at the time, was aware of his eligibility for England through his father, but Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s sights were firmly set on playing for the Springboks.

He played for South Africa Under-20, making his debut for the Cape Town-based Stormers in 2022, and was taken on the autumn tour by Erasmus that year for experience. With his 6ft 1in, 15-stone frame, he was often used at No12 by the Stormers, playing outside Libbok, the established No10. But he is a fly half by preference, his pace, power and playmaking qualities quickly marking him out as a player who could bring a different dimension to the Springboks.

Metres gained per match among Test fly halves

Since Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu's South Africa debut in June 2024

Table with 2 columns and 5 rows. (column headers with buttons are sortable)

Minimum 400 minutes played

Table: The Times and The Sunday Times•Source: Opta

He was 22 when he won his first cap, coming off the bench in the second half of that game against Wales at Twickenham. Both for Feinberg-Mngomezulu and his father, it was a bittersweet occasion, the huge sense of pride tinged with a sadness that his debut would not be witnessed by his grandfather.

In his long years of exile, Barry Feinberg had dreamt of seeing a South African society in which players who looked like his grandson would be allowed to wear the Springbok shirt. Barry had died nine months earlier and when Sacha spoke after making his debut, he broke down in tears calling his grandfather’s memory to mind. “He would have been proud,” Sacha said. “This was everything he fought for.”

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It’s why Eddie Jones tried to entice him to join England - he has the passport

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This is a very old story and was on site before. Sacha as borne in SA after his father and grandfather returned to SA in 1991. His grandfather was a leadin g member of the S A Communist Party and left SA in the 1950's after the Party was banned and his father was borne in the UK.

After the Party was unbanned in 1989 by De Klerk his grandfather and father returnmed to SA and his father married a lawyer who has now a farmer specializing in farming with dagga and after that hsi fat he divorced her and Sacha and his halfbrother is now active in the model world were raised by his father,

His grandfather was a rugby addict and Sacha was encouraged by h is grandfather to play rugby from his school days and ended up in the SA Under 20 team - where I saw him playing the first time and thought he had massive potential and he was player of the tournament. It ws then when the issue of a repalcment of Jantjies came up I kept referring on site to him being the answer as to the future flyhalf position of the Springboks, .

Sacha ended up at the Rugby Development centre in Stellenbosch where he became a protegee of Erasmus, When he suffered an injury - Erasmus phoned him and told him to be patient and made sure he recoverd from the injury since he had great plans for him in future. That is why Erasmus was hopping mad when it came out that as a Springbok he suffered a knee inury and played Erasmus read him the riot act.

Sacha's regret was his granfather died before he played for the Spingboks and he stated that a number of times,

Dave comments as correct since Sacha's father was a UK citizen from birth and claimed his SA citizenship after the family returned to SA, Jones tried to get him to play for England - but Scha himself had no ties to England he decided not to play rugby for England,

Sacha's grandfather was the fighter against Apartheid and was very active in the anti-aparheid movement in London and his father became a member of that Assoctiation in his youth - but after his return to South Africa he hiself was not active in the ANC as a politcal capacity.

Another very unpopular person with Erasmus was Dobson - who tried to play Scha at 12 wher he sufferd a number of injuries and was not part of the Stormers squad for months, He did not try to repeat that idiocy since his last injury and that was not repeated this year,

Sacha himself is a very nice guy extremely popular with his Stormers and Springboks playmates and this .is shwn whenever he scored tries in matches, He is also a very close to his father as is shown in he following video:after he played for the Springboks in the Irish test last year:-

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1031203338362213