Test Rugby’s 2 Perfect 10s produce the Perfect 10s – 20 years apart
Test Rugby’s 2 Perfect 10s have produced the Perfect 10s in performance, 20 years apart. There is so much in the numbers when celebrating the All Blacks Dan Carter and Springboks Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu, writes Mark Keohane.
For me, the two respective performances are not for comparison but absolute celebration.
Carter’s miracle match was in 2005 and Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s miracle match was in 2025.
Both were 23 years-old when producing their performances.
Both missed just one kick at posts.
Both made their Test debuts against Wales, with Carter playing at No 12 in the 55-3 win against Wales in Hamilton in 2003. Carter scored 20 points, including the first of his 29 Test tries. Feinberg-Mngomezulu came off the bench at Twickenham in 2024 to immediately kick a 55 metre penalty as the Boks won 41-13.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, against Argentina on Saturday, kicked eight conversions from nine attempts and two penalties from two attempts for a return of 10/11. He scored three tries and assisted in others. His cross kick to Cheslin Kolbe was the work of a magician. He also made tackles, took high balls and broke tackles. He never attempted a drop goal because there was no need to do so.
Every try SACHA FEINBERG-MNGOMEZULU scored in his record 37-point effort for the SPRINGBOKS against Argentina. pic.twitter.com/53f5Av1toC
— Front Row Rugby (@FrontRowRugbyXV) September 28, 2025
This was a big Test match. Boks captain Siya Kolisi likened it to a semi-final and one that had to be won if the Boks wanted to be in the final of the Castle Rugby Championship.
Kolisi said the Boks had to do the business in Durban to put themselves in a position to defend the Championship title, won last season, in the final hit-out against the Pumas at Twickenham next Saturday.
They did more than win. They destroyed the Pumas 67-30, scored nine tries to three, and got the try-scoring bonus point because they scored three more tries than the opposition.
They lead the table by a point from New Zealand and with a 60 points differential advantage. For the All Blacks to win the title they would have to win by a bonus point in Perth against the Wallabies and do so in a big way to still be in contention when the Boks and Pumas kick-off.
The Boks don’t need a bonus point win. They have to win and the Pumas are no longer a title contender, as they are six points behind the Boks on the league table. The most they could get at Twickenham is five points.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, just like Carter did 20 years ago, was the Pied Piper of this victory. Carter’s 33 points individual display won the All Blacks the Lions series and Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s 37 points inspired the Boks to keep alive their ambition of becoming the first Boks team to win the Rugby Championship on the bounce.
Jeff Wilson not holding back in his praise for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu… pic.twitter.com/wjUAl1oFba
— Derek Alberts (@derekalberts1) September 28, 2025
The similarities in the duo’s performances are the stuff of goosebumps, not least of them the way in which both magicians conducted themselves, if 20 years apart.
WATCH: CARTER’S 33 points for All Blacks v British & Irish Lions
Carter kicked nine from 10, four conversions and five penalties, scored two tries and set up one try with an exhilarating run, hand-off and offload to Tana Umaga. He was mesmerising on attack, tough in defence, bamboozled Jonny Wilkinson in his attempt at a tackle, and defensively was strong against whoever was sent up his channel. His game management was also world class. Ditto Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Carter’s numbers against the Boks – and more
Rassie on Sacha’s 37-point performance v Pumas
Carter’s Test career: 1,598 – Carter is the only player in rugby history to have scored more than 1,500 test points. His tally of 1,598 puts him 352 points ahead of Jonny Wilkinson (1,246) and 508 ahead of Neil Jenkins (1,090), who is third on the list. Carter averaged 14.3 points per test appearance.
PUB TRIVIA – Just for YOU!
These are just some big player individual match-points tally numbers in Test rugby, Tier One and Tier Two.
SIMON CULHANE (45 POINTS) NEW ZEALAND V JAPAN, 4 JUNE, 1995
Simon Culhane sat on the bench for New Zealand’s opening two matches of Rugby World Cup 1995 as Andrew Mehrtens orchestrated wins over Ireland and Wales.
But, with qualification for the quarter-finals assured, All Blacks coach Laurie Mains decided to shuffle his pack and handed Culhane his test debut.
The Southland playmaker was called on within three minutes to convert Eric Rush’s opening try, and it would be a busy afternoon.
In all, Culhane converted 20 of the All Blacks’ 21 tries, the eighth of which he had scored himself, as New Zealand rounded off their Pool C campaign with a 145-17 victory.
It was the biggest Rugby World Cup winning margin ever recorded — until Australia beat Namibia 142-0 at RWC 2003 — and remains the most points a team has scored in a tournament match.
Fast fact: Springboks attack coach Tony Brown scored 36 points in a Test for the All Blacks against Italy.
Culhane’s 45-point haul is still the most scored by a single player at Rugby World Cup.
JOSÉ MARÍA NÚÑEZ PIOSSEK (45 POINTS) ARGENTINA V PARAGUAY, 27 APRIL, 2003
José María Núñez Piossek had been one of three Argentine players who scored four tries during a 152-0 win against Paraguay in May, 2002. But even he couldn’t have expected to run in three hat-tricks alone 12 months on.
Three decades after Eduardo Morgan racked up a record 50 points against Paraguay, Piossek donned the same blue-and-white number 14 jersey to write another chapter of history in the fixture.
The Argentina side that lined up for the South American Championship 2003 match in Montevideo was a fairly inexperienced one, and included a 20-year-old Juan Martín Hernández at full-back.
However, Los Pumas proved too good for Paraguay and ran in 24 tries during a 144-0 victory at the Luis Franzini Stadium.
Nine of those tries were scored by Piossek, who became only the fifth player to score at least 45 points in test history.
Piossek maintained his form throughout 2003, scoring tries against France and South Africa in June and earning his place in Argentina’s RWC 2003 squad. He played three matches in Australia, including against the hosts, without scoring.
EDUARDO MORGAN (50 POINTS) ARGENTINA V PARAGUAY, 14 OCTOBER, 1973
A winger who backed himself from the kicking tee, Eduardo Morgan enjoyed his finest moments in an Argentina jersey during the South American Championship 1973.
Los Pumas had warmed up for the tournament with back-to-back victories over Romania in Buenos Aires.
Morgan played in both of those tests without scoring, something he put right in Argentina’s opening South American Championship match against Paraguay in Sao Paulo.
The winger scored six tries and added 13 conversions from the kicking tee as Los Pumas won the match 98-3.
With four points awarded for a try at the time, it gave Morgan a 50-point haul, a world-record tally that would stand for almost three decades.
ASHLEY BILLINGTON (50 POINTS) HONG KONG V SINGAPORE, 27 OCTOBER, 1994
Ashley Billington played six tests for Hong Kong between 1994 and 1996, and his most memorable day in the blue jersey came during his sole appearance in the Asian Championship 1994.
Billington lined up at full-back at the KL Football Stadium in Kuala Lumpur in a match that doubled as a qualifier for Rugby World Cup 1995 and had a field day.
The then 25-year-old ran in 10 of Hong Kong’s 26 tries on the day, to help his side to a 164-13 victory and draw level with Morgan’s world record points haul.
It proved to be the highlight of Billington’s test career. He had scored two tries in his first two matches for Hong Kong, both coming in a 22-12 defeat to Namibia, but failed to cross the whitewash in any of his subsequent three appearances.
Billington won his final test cap for Hong Kong as a replacement during a 47-7 defeat to Japan in October, 1998.
TORU KURIHARA (60 POINTS) JAPAN V CHINESE TAIPEI, 21 JULY, 2002
Japan faced Chinese Taipei and Korea in qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2003, and it’s fair to say that the team had fun.
The Brave Blossoms won each of their four matches by an aggregate score of 420-47, including a 155-3 win against Chinese Taipei in Tokyo.
Toru Kurihara scored 21 points in that match, but saved his best performance for the return match two weeks later.
In Tainan, the winger scored six tries and added 15 conversions to finish the match with a world record points tally of 60 points, which still stands 19 years later.
Another kicking winger, who also featured at full-back, Kurihara made four appearances at Rugby World Cup 2003, scoring 40 points — 19 against France and 21 against the USA.
You May Also Like
