CAPTAIN: South Africa will be at a disadvantage due to a lack of international rugby over the past 20 months, but remain confident in their success against the British and Irish Lions, first-choice hooker Bongi Mbonambi said on Tuesday.

He will be number one in the first test at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, which is only the second time in the last 20 months that the Springboks have played since their World Cup victory in Japan in November 2019.

“We are at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of playing time against top-level rugby teams, but that is one of the realities of COVID,” he told a press conference.

“But we’re working hard on the training ground and doing our video analysis of the Lions. We’ve done everything we can on the training ground to make sure we’re ready and can go up on Saturday.

Mbonambi was among 14 players and six staff who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and have spent much of the last week self-isolating in their hotel rooms.

“Being in isolation was quite difficult, we couldn’t do a lot of physical things, so most of the preparation was video work and Zoom meetings.

“By joining the squad on Monday we had to show that we can step it up and match the intensity of the squad. This weekend is a huge game for us and we had to make sure we were ready. did everything we could and I think we look pretty good for Saturday.

Mbonambi is joined by skipper Siya Kolisi, Makazole Mapimpi and Ox Nche in Saturday’s starting lineup among those who have just completed their isolation.

The COVID-19 cases forced the Springboks to cancel the second of their two warm-up tests against Georgia earlier this month.

(Written by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; edited by Toby Davis)