Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has arguably the three most recognisable names in world rugby right now. But that isn’t enough for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. And nor should it be. Why settle for having the most famous triple-name in rugby? When you’re the first quadruple-threat outside-half in the history of the entire sport.
Before we define what a quadruple-threat outside-half actually is, we need to first define what a triple-threat outside-half is.
I first started using the term ‘triple-threat’ as a derivation from its original basketball meaning. In basketball, to be triple-threat is the ultimate starting position when receiving possession. When catching the basketball, players are encouraged not to dribble it immediately, because you can only start and stop dribbling the basketball once. Once you have dribbled the ball and stopped, you can then only pass and shoot – meaning that you’re easier to defend as the defender can press up (you’ve weakened from a triple to a double-threat).
In rugby, the phrase triple-threat, pertaining to outside-halves, has come to mean something slightly different – but no less potent. To be a triple-threat No.10 means that you can kick the ball, run with the ball and pass the ball, all with equal effectiveness.
This may sound like a given for elite fly-halves – but it isn’t. There are plenty of Test-level 10s who can kick and pass but can’t make a meaningful line-break. There are some who can run and pass but can’t kick particularly well – especially at goal. Only the best are triple-threat – the Dan Carters and Romain Ntamacks of this world. You get the point.
But Sacha FM has taken the triple threat up a level. Not only can he pass, kick and run, but he has split the running skill-set in two. SFM is not only able to make the outside line break, but he is also able to offer a credible threat by running straight with the ball. To put it simply, he can run the line of a 12, at 10.
At 6ft 1in tall, 98 kgs and with a back like a green Quality Street, he is a problem for Test-level back-row forwards – he’s made plenty of flankers look like something that rhymes neatly with that position.
To have a 10 who can genuinely run it straight from phase play is a major benefit. It means that the defence can’t simply drift off and wait for the pass, kick or step. The real detail is in the setting of the defender’s feet. With most attacking 10s, defenders don’t have to set their feet in order to make the hit – many 10s don’t require a full shoulder to be dropped and can be zapped with an arm tackle.
But with SFM you need to set your feet in concrete (the same amount of concrete that the idiot builders seem to have used on my fence posts about 30 years ago, which now requires me to rent a jackhammer in order to extract a four-inch piece of wood).
Once the defender’s feet are set, so is their fate and Sacha often slides on the outside or delivers that extra space as a gift to the player outside him. But Sacha doesn’t just present a defensive problem for diminutive outside-halves or under-sized 12s. At 6ft 1in tall, 98 kgs (15st 6lb) and with a back like a green Quality Street, he is a problem for Test-level back-row forwards – he’s made plenty of flankers look like something that rhymes neatly with that position.
Some of you reading this may argue that rugby does have some other examples of 10s who have been able to run the straight line also. Players like Handré Pollard, Stephen Larkham, Henry Honiball and Butch James are/were big enough to straighten the line if they wanted to. But even if they could, they couldn’t go on the outside as well – and that’s the difference.
Talk of Sacha FM’s skill-set has of course been all over South African rugby forums since he picked his first straight line and exited the womb. The recognition levels then heightened as he began getting more starts at the Stormers.
But the summer of 2025, and his leading role in the Springboks’ title-winning Rugby Championship, has seen true global appreciation of his ability. His stats in the Rugby Championship looked like the type of numbers that Kim Jong Un would give himself if North Korea rocked up to the comp.
To focus on SFM’s ability to run straight, and wide, is myopic. He is doing things on the field that look almost like AI.
SFM was top for line-breaks in the whole competition – at outside-half. Yup, think of that. He made more line-breaks than anyone else in the competition in a channel that offers less space than a one-bedroom flat in Dublin.
Sacha was also in the top 10 for tries scored, a stat that belongs in the days of amateur rugby where 10s were allowed to roam like tigers in Sumatra, not like they do now – in some nutter’s back garden in Florida. But, perhaps most staggeringly, Sacha FM was also top for defenders beaten – a category usually dominated by wings and full-backs due to the amount of space afforded on deep kicks etc.
But to focus on SFM’s ability to run straight, and wide, is myopic. He is doing things on the field that look almost like AI. He’s the first player I’ve ever seen kick cross-field from his own 10m line and then collect that kick, unopposed, and score in the corner.
That’s the type of stuff that happens in under eight’s rugby – not in Test matches. To see him run backwards from phase play, behind two pods, straighten and then make a 20m line-break is like something you’d see on a PS5, not SKY401.
Give him another couple of pre-seasons and he’ll probably be able to levitate – rendering all forms of blitz, drift and hybrid defence entirely pointless.
SFM is the world’s first ever quadruple-threat outside-half – if you disagree, feel free to tell me.
And who’s to say he won’t become the world’s first quintuple-threat player. Give him another couple of pre-seasons and he’ll probably be able to levitate – rendering all forms of blitz, drift and hybrid defence entirely pointless. We can then measure his contribution in not just metres run, but metres flown.
Keep it up Sacha. You’re a joy to watch.
