The Springbok Bongi Mbonambi could be named in the team for the second Rugby Championship test against the Wallabies that will be played in Perth.

The 33-year-old, who hails from Bethlehem, was replaced early in the past weekend’s test, in which the Boks claimed a 33-7. He did come back onto the field later in the game as cover at hooker when Malcolm Marx was sent to the sin-bin.

There were fears that Mbonambi sustained a serious injury, however, the Bok assistant coach Duane Vermeulen said he should be fine.

Duane Vermeulen. Photo: Morgan Piek

“With Bongi coming off the field, it was only back spasms and there was no really big injury,” said the two-time Rugby World Cup winner. “RG Snyman has an issue with his foot, but that’s just a little bit of stiffness. That’s it, there isn’t anyone else that we know of. We’ll wait for the team announcement on Tuesday and we’ll see how it looks.”

Vermeulen added while the win in Brisbane was great, it was still not the perfect performance, and a couple of changes may bring some extra energy into the squad. “We’ve got a big squad of 33 players and you want to use all 33, because you need the guys to stay on top form and perform when there is an injury. They need to have game-time or have played a game.

“There might be a couple of changes, we don‘t know yet, but you see these two guys (Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Makazole Mapimpi) here and they might be in the mix. You need game-time and experience, and hopefully Rassie Erasmus and the coaching staff will make the perfect team to play on the weekend.

“It’s a big one for us, and there are a lot of things that we can still work on. We left a couple of tries out there. It’s still not the perfect game for us, but hopefully we can step it up and bring some extra energy into this coming weekend.”

Saturday’s test between the Wallabies and Springboks in Perth kicks off at 11:45.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mc