South Africa have suffered a serious World Cup harm blow with hooker Malcolm Marx dominated out of the event with a torn ACL.
Marx, one of many world’s finest hookers, suffered the harm in coaching forward of the Springboks’ second pool fixture towards Romania.
The 29-year-old had not been attributable to characteristic in that sport, however was more likely to be South Africa’s beginning hooker for the rest of the event.
The Springboks have elected to not substitute Marx of their 33-man squad “at this stage”.
“First and foremost, we are extremely disappointed for Malcolm, and we wish him all the best in his recovery,” stated head coach Jacques Nienaber.
“He’s been working very hard to be in the best form possible for the tournament, and it’s tragic that his campaign has ended this way. As a team we will remain in contact with him, as we do with all injured players such as Lukhanyo (Am), Handre (Pollard) and Lood (de Jager), and support him as much as we can through the recovery process.
“We have enough cover at hooker with Bongi (Mbonambi) and Deon (Fourie) in the squad, while Marco (van Staden) has also been training there and has been named on all our team sheets so far as a hooker option.
“We’ll assess our needs for the rest of the tournament and confirm who we are calling up as an additional player later this week.”
Mbonambi begins and captains South Africa towards Romania in Bordeaux this weekend, with Fourie, extra usually an openside flanker at membership stage, masking from the bench.
Joseph Dweba is the hooker on standby ought to Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus determine a substitute is required.
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The lack of Marx is an undoubted blow to the defending champions.
He and Mbonambi’s complementary expertise have dovetailed beautifully for a lot of the final half-decade, with Marx a wonderful ball provider and breakdown operator.
Fourie’s elevation to the second spot within the hooking pecking order additionally comes as a danger, with the 36-year-old but to scrummage at take a look at stage.
“I’ve never tasted it (playing hooker) at test-match level, that’s the reality,” Fourie admitted this week. “I’ve been training there for two years now with the Boks.
“I’ve been in and out with hooker training, but hopefully it’s like riding a bike. If I get the opportunity to play there I can just jump back on and ride it.”
