Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu stars on Springboks return: 5 Bold Predictions

New Zealand have landed down in South Africa, yet the All Blacks have their first club level obstacle to overcome before getting their hands on the Springboks. Dave Rennie's men begin 'Rugby's Greatest Rivalry' Tour on Friday night, with a historic first time clash against the Stormers set to ignite the series across the land of green and gold.

Whilst the All Blacks get their Tests series tune up underway in Cape Town, the Springboks are away in South America for an epic pre-tour Test clash against Argentina. No punches have been pulled in this fully-fledged Test match, with captain Siya Kolisi and the most-capped Springbok of all time Eben Etzebeth, both named for battle against Los Pumas.

With no Rugby Championship campaign for 2026, the Wallabies have had to alter their schedule with a trip out to the Far East. With a new head coach at the helm in former Queensland Reds boss Les Kiss, Australia take on the Brave Blossoms at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashiōsaka.

Adding more intrigue to this match-up, is how ex-Wallabies boss Eddie Jones gets set to take on the side he departed for his role with Japan. So, with no let up in the hectic rugby schedule, here's RUCK's 5 Bold Predictions for the incoming weekend of action.

We kick things off with the curtain raiser for the incoming weekend, with the All Blacks out for blood after arriving in Cape Town earlier this week. Whilst Dave Rennie will most likely ring the changes for the All Blacks with bigger green and gold fish to fry on the horizon, New Zealand will by no means field a 'weak' squad for the clash in Cape Town.

The All Blacks arrive in South Africa armed to the teeth with squad depth, that can rival against the revered Springbok depth chart upon their eight-match saga across the country. Even with the likes of Richie Mo'unga, Du'Plessis Kirifi and Noah Hotham left back home, the third and even fourth choice options across the squad bring bountiful Super Rugby experience and are genuine contenders for extended runs in the black jerseys. Beauden Barrett starts at 10, with two debutants poised for action from the bench in Prop Siale Lauaki and inside back Josh Jacomb look

The Stormers meanwhile, face the opposite challenge for this Friday's match. John Dobson is without his star man Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at fly half, with 20-year-old Yaqeen Ahmed set for his debut in the 10 jersey. Sacha is away in South America upon Springboks duties, as is scrum half Cobus Reinach, and the forward trio of Siya Kolisi, Zach Porthern and Ben Jason-Dixon.

Dobson has had to call upon the Stormers XVIII Currie Cup side to bolster the squad, with Keke Morabe and Wandile Mlaba named on the bench for this match at DHL Stadium. We can see just one winner from this opening match of the tour, with the All Blacks expected to set the tone all guns blazing, and rack up an ephatic win against the Cape Town side.

Beauden Barrett will be in the spotlight this Friday night, as the multiple-time World Player of the Year finds himself out on the fringes of All Blacks contention. When Dave Rennie took over the helm as New Zealand head coach, the former Kobe Steelers boss kept it no secret how he intended to champion current Super Rugby form above historical All Blacks presence, as he pieced together his squad for the Nations Championship.

This then saw the Hurricanes out-half Ruben Love thrust into the 10 jersey, after the Wellington side lifted the Super Rugby title a few months ago. Barrett could not budge into the starting XV at full-back either, as Damian McKenzie's hot form with the Chiefs was rightfully rewarded with a stellar run throughout the latest Nations Championships. McKenzie also showcased his credentials for the 10 shirt, with Love taking repeated trips to the sin bin to briefly hand the Chiefs man the keys to the back-line.

So, this left Barrett on the side-lines for the entire Championship, forced to watch on as his brothers Jordie and Scott relished in the early success of the Dave Rennie era. Beauden played no part against France, Italy or Ireland, yet Rennie has since picked Barrett to start against the Stormers. The All Blacks have managed acute squad rotation hectic travel plan, with Beauden out to re-mind the All Blacks selectors of what he brings to the table just over one year out from the Rugby World Cup. We foresee a hot return to form for the Blues man, who will put the pressure on Ruben Love ahead of the Test series.

We jet off from South Africa and up to the Land of the Rising Sun now, with the Wallabies on tour in Osaka for an enticing match against the Brave Blossoms. It's the dawning of a new era for the Australians, as Joe Schmidt parted ways with the men in gold at the end of the Nations Championship, and has since returned to Ireland upon a consultancy role with Ulster. Les Kiss has long been viewed as the natural successor, with the former Queensland Reds head coach poised for his first crack at the Wallabies reins.

Looking at the two teams recent form, Japan and the Wallabies seem well-matched heading into this first match of a two-test series. Both the Wallabies and Brave Blossoms picked up impressive wins over Italy throughout the Nations Championship, albeit Australia's emphatic margin of victory in Perth (57-10) was 30-points stronger than that of Japan's in Tokyo (27-10). Australia then pushed Ireland to their very limit down in Sydney, and could well have secured a dramatic late victory had Ben Donaldson's penalty effort sailed through the posts to end the match.

Japan also held strong for the most part against Ireland, yet the closeness of the encounter could be as much accredited to the poor performance from Andy Farrell's side in Newcastle. The level playing field is only further exemplified as both Japan and Australia succumbed to harsh defeats to France throughout July. So, with two teams that are coming into this match on seemingly equal standings, it looks like it will come down to the wire this weekend. We expect a similar battle to that of the Wallabies v Ireland match, with a final decisive play set to steal a late win from the dejected home supporters.

Our next prediction takes us back across the continents and down to the land of Los Pumas, as South Africa prepare to take on Argentina this Saturday in Buenos Aires. Whilst Argentina have enjoyed a recent habit of pushing the Southern Hemisphere heavyweights to their limits, we anticipate a much more one-sided Springboks victory this weekend, to that the recent nail-biting epics in milestone Rugby Championship encounters.

This is down to a few reasons, with none more evident than how Rassie Erasmus is pulling no punches against Los Pumas. The Springboks head coach is rightfully treating this match as his side's final tune-up, before the four-match saga against the All Blacks gets underway later in August. For this, Erasmus has named what looks like arguably his strongest possible South African side, after a Summer of rotation witnessed countless combinations run out in the Nations Championship. The big guns are also back from injury, with Siya Kolisi named captain, with grizzled veteran Eben Etzebeth in the row and the fly half dynamo Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu pulling the strings at 10.

Argentina's underwhelming form throughout the Nations Championship has also clouded their expectations for this match. Felipe Contepomi's men suffered two home losses in the Southern Series, as Scotland and England both enjoyed their respective trips down to Sudamerica, with Steve Borthwick's men making amends for England's defeat to Argentina at the FIFA World Cup. Poor discipline has also overshadowed Argentina's recent performances, which the Springboks would gladly punish.

One of the headlines coming out of Rassie Erasmus' Springboks squad announcement, was the long-awaited return of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to the green and gold. The Stormers man has not been in action since the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship, as he sustained an ankle injury whilst scoring a try in the win over Cardiff. The talented linchpin needed surgery before returning to the pitch, which ruled him out of the URC semi-final defeat to Leinster, and the entirety of the Nations Championship Southern Series.

So, with Rassie unleashing the likes of Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager for their Springbok returns, we predict that it will in fact be Feinberg-Mngomzeulu that takes the headlines home from Buenos Aires. The fly half holds the current record of most points scored in a single international men's match, from when he tallied 37 points in a stunning Rugby Championship outing in Durban. This match was against none other than Argentina, and the Stormers man would love nothing more than to eclipse his own record this weekend in Buenos Aires.