Mbonambi, Springboks in high spirits at training

In preparation for the Rugby World Cup final on Wednesday, the Springboks looked at ease and upbeat during their training session.

With his arm wrapped around substitute prop Vincent Koch, Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi emerged onto the training pitch laughing and in a cheerful mood.

Following an alleged racial slur directed towards England loose forward Tom Curry during South Africa’s 16–15 semifinal victory over England over the weekend, Mbonambi has been the subject of intense media attention this week.

There has been no discernible advancement in World Rugby’s inquiry into the purported incident.

World Rugby’s Chief Communications Officer, Dominic Rumbles, reassured the public on Tuesday that the evaluation is being carried out as soon as possible.

Rumbles promised to update you as soon as there was anything new.

“We want to finish that review as soon as possible.”

The investigation’s main source of contention has been the evidence collection, which some analysts attribute to a lack of available data.

According to reports on Wednesday, Mbonambi will play in Saturday’s final in Paris (kick-off at 21h00). Go here to read more.

Mbonambi led the team when Siya Kolisi left the field after playing the entire 80 minutes against England.

In light of this, former Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell has watched how the Springboks use their substitutes and believes that this is a crucial area of the game that could make the difference in Saturday’s final against the All Blacks.

Mitchell stated on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, “I feel like New Zealand use their bench when they have to, whereas South Africa use their bench because they want to. That’s the difference between the All Blacks and the Springboks, in terms of their bench.”

In the All Blacks’ quarterfinal, Damian McKenzie played a relatively small role. A few players appeared on the scene very late; it was as though they were fresh off the field and should have been replaced.

“Whereas South Africa goes out there and makes those decisions tactically.”

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