DHL Stormers Director of Rugby, John Dobson, has recently made several headlines regarding Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, primarily defending the young playmaker against public criticism and admitting to a coaching "mistake" regarding his early promotion to captaincy.
Dobson has slammed what he calls "vitriol" and "noise" from "keyboard warriors" following a dip in the flyhalf's form.
“The noise around Sacha is a concern. He is a youngster, and there is so much emotion in the sport. Sacha was being hero-worshipped a few months back, but anyone now can say what they think and be published on social media, and the stuff gets around, never mind what respected journalists say.”
“I just cannot understand how there can possibly be vitriol towards a guy who has such X-factor and so much promise for the Stormers and the Springboks. You don’t become the world’s best game-managing fly-half in your first couple of years.
"It will come, but he has to serve the hours. He will definitely get there.”
Dobson commented on Springbok assistant coach Tony Brown's suggestion that Sacha needs to use the players around him more effectively.
“We listen to what a guy like Tony says. But it is a very different environment at the Stormers, where he has been the captain and is desperate for us to win, to the environment at the national team, where there are huge resources on and off the field. You have a massive pack of forwards who can bail you out, and you have guys with hundreds of caps of experience around you.
“Tony is dead right in that Sacha is maybe trying to do too much, but we know where it is coming from; he is just desperate for the Stormers to win. We would rather have that than somebody who is disinvested or trying to look after his body. We just have to coach better to make sure he takes those right options.”