Eben Etzebeth branched off in an interview this week when talking about Deon Fourie to describe Springboks hooker Bongi Mbonambi as “one of the hardest men in rugby”.
Following South Africa’s victory over Scotland in the opening game of the pool in Marseille, Malcolm Marx suffered an injury on the training field that prevented him from playing in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. As a result, Mbonambi, 33, played a crucial role in South Africa’s successful title defence.
The Springboks relied on Mbonambi to handle the extra effort rather than calling up Jacques Nienaber, another hooker.
Etzebeth was greatly impressed, but even that inspiring tale about his Sharks comrade wasn’t easy to follow, as minutes before the All Blacks final, an injury rendered South Africa dependent on seasoned back row player Fourie to both pack down in the front row and throw into the lineout.
With great success, the 37-year-old Stormers blindside contributed to his team’s 12–11 Stade de France triumph.
Six months later, during an interview on the most current episode of The Rugby Pod, Etzebeth reflected on his back-to-back title wins. The recent airing of the most recent documentary series, Chasing the Sun, had rekindled his memories of that victory.
“Deon’s story is amazing,” he said to Jim Hamilton, the host of Pod. “I thought he was a little underappreciated while he was a member of the Stormers. It was too bad he didn’t receive a Springbok cap initially. He announced his retirement and made a few cameo appearances for the Stormers after concluding his career in France.
“The Deon Fourie He was always a fighter, and I knew that when I joined at the Stormers in 2012. He may not be the largest man in the room, but he still has a dog in him.
“He is a true fighter, and when he was chosen for the World Cup and made his debut against Wales (in 2022), he most likely went into the game with the expectation of playing against Tonga and Romania and not many other teams.
“Then Malcolm went down and the plan then was for Bongi to go 80, 80, 80 quarters, semi and final. In the final, second minute I think, he goes down. Just on Bongi, that guy is not the most skillful hooker in the world or the fastest hooker but that guy is one of the hardest men in rugby.
He simply loves scrumming and detests losing, which he virtually never does, and he will carry with his head into a wall. He is a huge asset to us in the scrum area, particularly when it comes to scrumming, and when he went down, I believe some of the players and coaches became a little alarmed.
“I’m not sure whether I can describe it as terror, but Deon needs to intervene now. In the World Cup final against the All Blacks, he was forced to play 77 minutes as a flanker. There isn’t a better narrative in rugby than what he accomplished and how he stood his man up to genuinely perform.
