Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi has backed his teammate Manie Libbok to bounce back from his last-gasp penalty miss which cost the Boks a 29-28 defeat against Argentina in round five of the Rugby Championship at the Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades over the past weekend. 

Libbok came on in the second at the place of veteran flyhalf Handre Pollard and controlled matters well, bringing South Africa back into the contest after trailing 26-22 at the halfway mark. With an opportunity to win the match late on, he was called upon to take a kickable penalty in the 78th minute with the Boks trailing 29-28. 

The Stormers man stepped up, and his attempt went wide which resulted in the World Champions suffering their first defeat in this year’s Rugby Championship. He has since faced large criticism from Springbok supporters from all over the globe. However, he’s been given another opportunity to redeem himself after being selected in the starting lineup ahead of the tournament decider against Los Pumas in Nelspruit. 

He replaces Pollard and will be paired up with scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse who will start in place of Cobus Reinach. Libbok’s teammate, Mbonambi, who, himself is no stranger to criticism having faced a lot of it in his career, said he believes he will be able to dust himself up and prove that he’s Springbok quality. “I speak from experience, in 2016 when we lost to Italy, I threw the last lineout and we lost it,” Mbonambi said at a press conference. 

“I got my name dragged through the mud, and it does come with playing for the Springboks and at the highest level.” 

 “For someone like Manie, who’s also been through a lot in his life outside of rugby, I think this is another challenge for him to prove to himself, and to everyone else that he is a flyhalf of International standards especially for the Bok jersey.” 

Mbonambi missed last weekend’s outing as he was being rested after putting on solid shifts recently in green and gold. He returns this weekend, and slots back in the starting lineup in place of Malcolm Marx, who is on the bench with five forwards, and three backs. 

The 33-year-old warrior believes Argentina will be a tough opponent. “We all understand the magnitude of this game this coming weekend,” he said. 

 “We know Argentina are tough and we’ve always respected them, I think they bring the physicality that we bring to other teams.” He added: 

“It’s going to be an important game, but obviously, we’ve made plans, and we’ll just stick to our reality.” 

 “We know our reality; we know we have Springbok standards that we want to achieve in the game.” 

The clash between the Springboks and Argentina at Mbombela Stadium kicks off at 17:00.