Why Bongi's return is huge for the Sharks

John Plumtree would be the perfect person to ask about scrumming hookers and the impact they can bring. By scrumming hookers, we mean those hookers who are more valuable than others when it comes to their impact in the set-scrums.

Tom Lawton, the Wallaby front-ranker who starred for what was then Natal when that province won the Currie Cup for the first time in their centenary year, 1990, was probably the most devastating scrumming hooker I’ve seen in my years of watching or covering the sport. 

The Natal scrum, with future Springboks Guy Kebble and the late Lood Muller in it, was good before that, but when Lawton was introduced all comers were destroyed by the Banana Boys, as they were known then, en route to their historic 18-12 win over Northern Transvaal in the Pretoria final.

Plumtree was part of a ruse on the part of the late Natal coach Ian McIntosh that day. ‘Mac’ was ahead of his time, and was the first local coach to introduce the concept of rugby being more than just a 15 man sport, with the reserves, not as many in those days as now, playing a part.

He announced a team with Plumtree, a flank, in it, but in reality experienced lock Andre Botha, who had not played that season but had made himself available, was included alongside Rudi ‘Vleis’ Visagie in the second row. That meant regular lock Steve Atherton was switched to Plumtree’s regular position on the side of the scrum.

Plumtree did come on later in the game and was part of the winning effort in the final, and also in all the buildup games, and also played his club rugby in those years with Lawton at DHL Old Boys.

So let’s cut to the chase - Plumtree was aware of the value of good scrumming hookers when he was still playing, so it goes without saying he understands it now that he is one of the most well travelled and experienced coaches on the circuit.

“BEST SCRUMMING HOOKER IN THE WORLD”

Which broaches the subject of Bongi Mbonambi. The Bok No 2, rated by Eben Etzebeth as the “best scrumming hooker in the world”, may have been the missing link with the Sharks were upstaged a few times by opposition scrums, in particular the DHL Stormers, on a few occasions since the end of November.

Mbonambi played in neither of the two Vodacom United Rugby Championship derbies against the Stormers, first because of a family bereavement and then because of the hand injury sustained in the first Investec Champions Cup game against Exeter Chiefs in Durban at the start of December.

He was also of course absent when the Sharks were upstaged by Leicester Tigers in the second Champions Cup game a week later, and also in the Durban URC derby against the Vodacom Bulls, where the scrums were also a problem for the Durbanites and it became a case of them hanging in.

The Sharks had Dylan Richardson, who has played a lot of his rugby on the flank, at hooker for those games, and while Plumtree rates the Scottish international highly, he is understandably not in the same league as Mbonambi when it comes to the set scrums.

“Getting Bongi back will make a very big difference for us in the scrums,” Plumtree acknowledged after his team’s last gasp defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town a few days before New Year.

“Bongi is a very strong scrumming hooker and we have missed him. Dylan is a good player and he will develop into a very good hooker but there are aspects of playing hooker that he is still learning. Of course Bongi has the experience and he is a big influence for us at scrum time.”

OX WILL BE PLEASED

One player who will be very pleased to have Mbonambi back alongside him in Saturday’s big Champions Cup showdown with the French giants, Toulouse, is Mbonambi’s World Cup winning Bok teammate, Ox Nche.

The loosehead wasn’t quite as influential and destructive in the scrums in the period that Mbonambi was away, but with Vincent Koch, another World Cup winner, on the other side of the scrum, the Sharks will have a top international front row fronting their challenge against a Toulouse side that prides itself on its scrumming strength.

“Bongi is a vital part of the pack. I’ve played a lot of games with him so we know exactly how to work together and adapt,” said Nche as he looked ahead towards the Toulouse game.

Nche reckons that adaptability is something the Sharks will need to have in the scrums against a Toulouse unit he rates highly.

“In the Top 14 it is all about the set scrum and Toulouse have the best pack in France. From playing against France (and most of the Toulouse) front row, I remember how adaptable they are. They are not shy to try new tricks. They work together. You might think you have them in one scrum and then they come back with something different.”

FRENCH DNA AGAINST BOK DNA

Nche spoke in an online press conference on Tuesday about the “growing excitement” his fellow Sharks players were experiencing ahead of what is a rare opportunity for the top Boks to test themselves against the best of the French.

The two nations haven’t played each other much over recent years, apart of course from the epic November series game in Marseille in 2022 and the even more epic World Cup quarterfinal in October 2023.

“It will be a lot of French DNA versus a lot of Springbok DNA and it is going to be a great contest.”

Nche said that what makes Toulouse arguably the best club/provincial team in the world is that they are the opposite of a one-trick pony.

“They play this free-flowing game but they can also tighten up and dominate teams physically. They can play in a number of ways and change things up. Few teams in the world can play like Toulouse and the way they suddenly do something unexpected catches defences out.”

DUPONT HAS TO BE STOPPED

Much of that revolves around Antoine Dupont, who walked away with the World Rugby Player of the Year Award in 2021 and then followed that up by winning the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year last year after starring for the French team that won Olympic gold.

Dupont is playing in South Africa for the first time since the 24 minutes he played against the Boks in the Durban test between the two teams in 2017, and the Sharks know they will need to hatch a plan to contain him if his return to Hollywoodbets Kings Park after a more than seven year gap is not going to be a winning one.

“We know Dupont is a special player and he is a big part of how Toulouse play,” said Nche.

“We have to make sure he doesn’t catch us out. We have done our analysis and we have seen how he catches defences flat-footed with the unexpected. We have to anticipate what he is going to do. Any team in the world would have plans to contain him.”

The Sharks of course do have two international scrumhalves of their own, with Grant Williams likely to be back from injury to challenge Jaden Hendrikse for the No 9 jersey when the selection is made.

Unfortunately the Sharks will be without the injured backline duo of Andre Esterhuizen and Aphelele Fassi, but that is more than counterbalanced by the return of Mbonambi, who will be joined by the hugely influential Eben Etzebeth, likely to captain the team, in making his return after a gap which for both of them has extended to just over a month.

The Sharks team will be announced on Friday.