VIDEO: The straight-shooting Bok with a 'nice aura'
Veteran hooker Bongi Mbonambi is exactly the ‘no-nonsense’ type of player you want to lead your team into the red-hot cauldron they can expect at Estadio Vélez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Mbonambi, 32, will captain the national team for the first time on Saturday – when he leads a new-look combination against Argentina in the first of three World Cup warm-up games.
While the team shows 14 changes to the starting line-up, the most talk-about selection is of the new skipper.
Mbonambi, who will earn his 60th Test cap, is the third different captain in place of regular captain Siya Kolisi, who is making encouraging progress following knee surgery.
Duane Vermeulen (against Australia and Argentina last week) and Eben Etzebeth (New Zealand) were the other skippers this season.
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said he is ‘extremely proud’ of Mbonambi.
(WATCH as Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber unpacks the reasons for selecting Bongi Mbonambi as the captain of the team to face Los Pumas in Buenos Aires…)
“He has been a brilliant leader for us,” he said of the player’s role inside the national team set-up.
“Since 2018 he has been one of our pressure-point drivers, one of our game drivers.”
Nienaber described Mbonambi as a ‘no-nonsense’ leader.
“He leads by example, by doing the hard yards.
“He doesn’t mince his words. He is a straight-shooter and demands respect.”
Nienaber said Mbonambi is one of those players that when he walks into a room, people sit up and take notice.
“He has a nice aura around him,” the coach said.
Mbonambi made his Test debut against Ireland in June 2016 and came off the bench at Ellis Park last week in his 59th outing.
Having played off the bench in his first 12 Tests, Mbonambi started in 18 of the 23 post-COVID internationals.
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