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Stormers' Bok has undergone 'emergency surgery'
By Online Editors
The Stormers were forced into a late change before they survived a strong Jaguares fightback in the second half to record a 28-20 win at Newlands in Round One of Super Rugby.
Mbongeni Mbonambi withdrew from the matchday squad, with Ramone Samuels starting and Dean Muir playing off the bench.
Stormers coach Robbie Fleck confirmed that Mbonambi suffered a burst appendix and underwent emergency surgery on Friday.
"He is out of the tour," Fleck said in the post-match reaction, after the hard-earned win over the South American visitors.
"It was a tough one for us," the coach said, adding: "He was a late withdrawal.
"The main thing is, he is good and he will be healthy in two weeks or so."
Fleck is backing rookie hooker Dean Muir to do the job on tour - where they will face the Waratahs, Crusaders and Highlanders.
He said Muir did 'very well' against the Jaguares.
"He had a very good pre-season," the coach said, adding: "It was tough not to include him in the [matchday] squad [for the Jaguares game].
"He worked incredibly hard.
"When he got selected [to play off the bench] the boys were very chuffed for him.
"He deserved it.
"I thought he was very, very good he showed some character. He carried well and defended well."
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Latest Comments
The England backs can't be that dumb, he has been playing on and off for the last couple of years. If they are too slow to keep up with him that's another matter.
He was the only thing stopping England from getting their arses handed to them in the Aussie game. If you can't fit a player with that skill set into an England team then they are stuffed.
Go to commentsSteve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
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