Erasmus opens up on young stars Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Evan Roos

Rising star Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who can play at either flyhalf, centre or fullback, has featured off the bench in all four Tests for the Springboks in 2024, exciting South African fans with both his kicking and playmaking ability.

Still only 22, he is already being backed as a future star for the Springboks, with Erasmus even suggesting that the utility back could take up the South African captaincy later down the line.

Erasmus has long had his eye on Sacha, taking note of the youngster's performances during the SA 'A' tour in 2022, and even believes the youngster is future captaincy material.

"Sometimes one underestimates those SA 'A' tours and just looks at the results. For a team just to get together on those SA 'A' tours, although they lost against Munster and Bristol, getting those guys under a certain pressure with new coaches, you get to know the players," Rassie said.

"He trained with us at the Springboks with full-on contact sessions and you could see the character of the guy. Obviously, we know him from our systems and our junior programmes. He's captaincy material."

Erasmus got the chance to see Feinberg-Mngomezulu excel at fullback against Ireland, while he also spent time at flyhalf in partnership with midfielder Lukhanyo Am against Portugal.

"You put him in at full-back when Willie got injured and we only lost a game by a drop-goal, and it was not because of the way he played. It's always nice to put a player in [the team] alongside a lot of experienced players," he said.

"We were all pleasantly surprised when we were down to 14 men, with Lukhanyo (Am) playing 12 and him playing 10 in the second half.

"Not that Manie didn't play well, I thought Manie had glimpses of brilliance when we were down to 14 men from the second minute.

"Sacha next to Lukhanyo at 12 was very interesting. One must recognise that it's Portugal, a tier two team that played away from home, but he's a natural talent.

"None of us sitting here can argue about that, it's just about how he takes the next step, and how we manage him and help him to take the next step, so I think he's got a bright future."

Roos 'not out of the mix'

Meanwhile, Erasmus was also asked about one of the more notable omissions from the Rugby Championship squad, that of Stormers No 8 Evan Roos.

Roos has enjoyed a couple of superb seasons for the Stormers and was rewarded with a call-up for the mid-year series.

He started against both Wales and Portugal, showing glimpses of his quality in the dominant victories in London and Bloemfontein respectively.

However, it was not enough for him to be named in South Africa's squad for the two games against the Wallabies, with the likes of Kwagga Smith and Elrigh Louw being preferred at the back of the scrum.

Many were surprised by Roos' Rugby Championship omission, especially with Smith having a few issues in that spot against Ireland, but Erasmus insists Roos is still in the picture.

"Certainly, Evan is not out of the mix," he said.

"Elrigh [Louw], we want to experience him against big nations. He was part of our plans always, but he certainly took a dip in form, he would admit that himself.

"We know what Evan now can do. Evan has not been thrown away, we still have nine Test matches this year.

"Against Argentina away last year we picked a totally different team, like we did against Portugal. It's building squad depth.

"We know what Evan can do and he certainly didn't have a bad game. We certainly know he's comfortable within the Springbok set-up, we will now see if Elrigh gets his chance to show what he can do."

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