One has played 20 Tests and is yet to convince, the other is having a first-ever Test start and has already been tagged for greatness.
Noah Lolesio vs Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday afternoon is an intriguing battle within a war, and one which could go a way to deciding the fate of the Rugby Championship opener.
It also stands in contrast to the game itself. While the Australians are underdogs for the win – the 22-year-old South African fly-half is the new pup in the personal showdown with Lolesio – not quite an old dog but one who should be hitting his prime.
Ben Donaldson was the man left out of the reckoning, with Joe Schmidt taking the cautious step of putting a second No.10 in Tom Lynagh on the bench, but truth be told this could be a good one for Donno to skip.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. (Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)
The stakes are high for Lolesio, who has many detractors. Schmidt this week spoke about his team needing conviction – and he’s opted to give Lolesio the keys again. Opposite him is a learner driver, albeit one who seems destined for Formula One.
A big win for the Boks with Lolesio disengaged and the Boks youngster excelling is a nightmare scenario for Schmidt.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu made his debut this year and has Boks fans abuzz.
“Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been a constant highlight reel in South Africa’s Test matches this year,” wrote Ben Coles in the UK Telegraph this week.
“Take your pick when it comes to deciding the exact moment when Springbok supporters lost their minds about his potential; the penalty from inside his own half against Wales, how he handled being thrown on after two minutes in the second Test against Ireland, the swerving break to set up Makazole Mapimpi against Portugal, or a sensational 50:22 in the same Test.”
He is an exceptional talent with ball in hand and his defence is strong too.
“He was born for this sport,” his Stormers coach John Dobson told SuperSport, comparing him to two-time World Cup winner Damian Willemse.
“We played Sacha as an under-19 player at a Toyota Challenge match at flyhalf. He made 21 tackles. Now there is no defence system in the world that requires a flyhalf to make 21 tackles. The similarities to [Willemse] is incredible.
Damian Willemse. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
“The amazing competitiveness, desperation to win, ‘no respect for their own bodies’ type-player’. Neither him nor Damian – while they are amazing steppers and great with ball in hand, it is not what their core is.
“Their core is rugby games, and trying to compete and fight. The highlight reels are great, but that isn’t what Sacha is about. He wants to tackle, carry, smash.”
Unlike Lolesio, Feinberg-Mngomezulu has plenty of range to where he can fit in a side. In the United Rugby Championship this year he played most of his games from inside centre, with an appearance at fullback.
“It’s favourable kind of,” Feinberg-Mngomezulu told South African radio station Heart FM.
“It was frowned upon for a while, being like a Jack of all trades but the modern day game of rugby you’ve got to be able to cover multiple positions and key positions like 10, 12, 15 even 13 in charge of defence.
“Those are the ones you want to kind of have nailed down so I’m glad I can fit those positions and we’ll have to see what happens with them.
“But you know, as long as I keep getting backed by the coaches that I can play these positions you know then there’s there’s less doubt in my head and then I can really kind of make use of that versatility.
“I’m hoping it puts me in good stead but we’ll see what happens. I hope that’s something that gets me into the 23 for the next bit of time.”
Ben Loader, the tyro’s teammate at the Stormers, told the UK Telegraph: “He is one of the hardest-working players I have seen.
“The bits of magic you see in the games, they are built by his dedication through the week, the year, in the off-season.
“It’s his ability to try new things, to persevere. If something doesn’t come off, you will see him practising it the next week over and over again to make sure the next time he tries it, it does come off.”
One area where he’s excelling in particular is his goal kicking. He was hitting 86 per cent during the URC, over reaching on xGK (expected goalkicks) – a new stat that is similar to expected goals in football.
Rassie Erasmus pointed to his goal kicking when announcing he would start this week, with Handre Pollard on the bench and Manie Libbok out of the picture for now.
But just as crucially, he is expected to bring more speed to the Boks backline in tandem with Cobus Reinach.
“I haven’t played with him as a nine and ten but the whole week he has shown that he’s got a rugby head on him,” Reinach said this week.
“He’s a young boy but he’s hugely talented and I’m really excited for him to go out there and express himself.
“I think he is going to do well. He has a lot of X-factor in him, he’s going to pull a few strings and create a few opportunities.”
Australia’s coach Joe Schmidt is also an admirer.
“With Sacha being preferred over Handre, he’s going to bring some tempo,” said Schmidt. “Whether it’s Cobus or Grant Williams, they’ve got incredibly quick nines. Even around those fringes and then the edges, a lot of what they bring we’re going to have to be ready to match up for.”
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Erasmus and Schmidt are united in one task – finding a fresh No.10 who can help their nations build towards the next World Cup.
While Erasmus won’t go as far to call Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s selection a changing of the guard, he added: “As we all say internally, we can’t look too far ahead or we’ll forget the present, but we also can’t just look at the present.
“When we went to 2019 World Cup, we would say we don’t want to go for a guy under eight caps, nine caps to the World Cup. I don’t think there’s been a World Cup won off a flyhalf of less than 24 years old.”
“I sometimes forget how young he actually is,” his club teammate Loader says.
“We have seen in the first couple of Tests how comfortable he is. It looked like he was born to play Test rugby. A guy like that, who has confidence in his own ability but is also super humble, the sky is the limit for him.”
Catch him if you can.