Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi continue their prolific hooker partnership in the Rugby Championship finale against Argentina at Twickenham.
Veteran Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi is finally back in the match day squad and ready to rumble in their Rugby Championship decider against Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.
Mbonambi has not featured much for the Boks this year, only making three appearances in their nine matches so far, all off the bench, with the last coming during their loss against the Wallabies at Ellis Park.
Since then Marnus van der Merwe, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, and even Marco van Staden, have worn the No 16 jersey, while Malcolm Marx has started eight of the Boks‘ nine games, including the last five in a row.
Speaking about the challenge in the squad for the back up hooker berth, and on being back in the mix to play, Mbonambi admitted he was grateful for the chance to put on the green and gold again.
“It is always an honour and a privilege to be involved with the Springboks. You do miss it a lot when you are not there. I have an opportunity to be here again. It is a massive honour for me to represent South Africa,” said Mbonambi.
With the Boks on the verge of winning back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time, they will need to put in a big performance against a team that beat them in Santiago del Estero last year, to make sure they get over the line.
Be humbled
“We have seen in this Rugby Championship that you can quickly be humbled. The Pumas bounce back each time they have lost. You can never count them out, and we will never disrespect them,” said Mbonambi about the challenge that awaits them.
“We know how well they train, we know how good their coach Felipe Contepomi is, and we can see they have a game plan that can beat the best if they are allowed to execute it. This weekend, we are expecting the Pumas to change a few things up to try and catch us out.”
He also admitted that the team had already put their impressive 67-30 hammering of Los Pumas over the past weekend behind them and that they were prepared for a completely new test this weekend.
“Argentina is a passionate team, and they’re quite tough. It wasn’t easy in Durban, and it won’t be easy here either. That game is in the past now, and we need to prepare for this weekend,” explained Mbonambi.
“In rugby, a lot can happen in a week. So we’ve got to focus on ourselves, focus on the plan, make sure all the players buy into the plan, and that we’re all aligned on Saturday.”
