France 21-19 Springboks | Who won the number 10 battle

France 21 – 19 South Africa

France beat the Springboks 21-19 in the Nations Championship. Both teams scored 3 tries but it was replacement fly-half, Manie Libbok who missed conversion that could have levelled it.

Lets look at how the two fly-halves performed.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu vs Lucu

Kicking. Feinberg-Mngomezulu was perfect from the tee, landing both of his conversions (30', 51') for 4 points. Lucu kicked 3 of 4 for 6 points. He converted all three tries but missed a 66th-minute penalty that drifted right. Both also used the boot from hand. Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked 7 times for 171m, while Lucu kicked 5 times for 181m.

Involvement. Both were heavily involved, with 25 balls played each. Feinberg-Mngomezulu made 14 passes and 9 carries for 22m, with 1 clean-break assist and 1 offload. Lucu also made 14 passes, but only 7 carries for 5m. He did set up Grandidier-Nkanang’s try in the first half, and he was credited with a try assist and a line-break assist.

Defence. Feinberg-Mngomezulu made 11 tackles at 92%, missing just one. Lucu made only 4 tackles at 50%, missing two, and he had no dominant tackles.

Discipline and errors. Lucu conceded a high-tackle penalty and was sin-binned in the 38th minute, which cost him some time on the field (72 minutes played). Feinberg-Mngomezulu conceded no penalties. However, he made 2 handling errors and 2 bad passes and gave up 3 turnovers, against 2 turnovers for Lucu and no handling errors. 

Verdict. Feinberg-Mngomezulu had the cleaner game, with a flawless kicking record, a strong tackle count and no penalties. Lucu’s evening was more mixed. He kicked well on the whole and was a clear creative influence in France’s three-try first half, but a missed penalty, a yellow card and a poor tackle rate were the blemishes.