Johannesburg - It seems that almost every season the Springboks take on a responsibility to put smiles on the faces of South Africans reeling from one crisis to the next, and 2022 is no different according to hooker Bongi Mbonambi.
Currently, South Africans are in Eskom-induced darkness and battling to put petrol in their cars, and while Mbonambi did not directly mention issues such as these, he told a Welsh reporter that “real pressure is the things we go through as a country; it is more the situation that we are in.”
Mbonambi and his teammates are busy with their final preparations for their first Test of the year, on Saturday against Wales in Pretoria, and he said the Boks don’t see where they are as a team as real pressure.
“It is more a privilege and an honour,” he explained. “The thing we go through as a country – that is pressure … We (the Boks) have the privilege of going out onto the pitch here to make ourselves proud, our families proud and obviously to do the nation proud as well because we have the honour of wearing the Springbok jersey.”
The Boks have not played a match since last November and, historically, the Boks are slow starters in a new season and they are also traditionally uncomfortable with the favourites tag, as is the case this weekend. But Mbonambi is hopeful that the Boks have their ducks in a row to hit the ground running on Saturday.
“It has been a while since we played together but over the last four weeks we have been training hard in our preparation camp, even with guys joining at different times from different countries and competitions —we have made it work because of the careful planning.
“We always work hard as Boks, no matter where we are or what people are saying, we focus on ourselves and there are processes we follow each day, each week — there is always a plan to get the result we want.”
IOL Sport