Playing as a loose forward during his high school career, Mona represented the Border Bulldogs at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week competition in 2008 and was also selected in a South African Under-16 Elite squad in the same year.
In 2010, he played for Border at the premier school rugby tournament in South Africa, the Under-18 Craven Week competition, held in Welkom.
He moved from loose forward to prop, but found his opportunities limited, with Allan Dell and Maks van Dyk – both of them South African Under-20 players – ahead of him in the pecking order.
[3] He made three more appearances off the bench in victories over Free State XV,[4] SWD Eagles[5] and their only defeat of the regular season against the Eastern Province Kings.
[8] He eventually appeared in all ten of the Pumas' matches in a season that saw them win the Vodacom Cup for the first time, beating Western Province 24–7 in the final.