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Springboks statement: Malcolm Marx ruled out of Rugby World Cup 

(Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

SA Rugby have confirmed that Malcolm Marx will play no further part in the Rugby World Cup. The seasoned Springboks hooker was a starter in last Sunday’s opening-round win over Scotland in Marseille, but the 2019 title winner won’t feature again after a training ground blow on Wednesday exacerbated a long-term knee injury.

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A statement read: “Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx has been ruled out of the remainder of the Rugby World Cup in France with a long-term knee injury. Marx, who was not included in Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber’s matchday squad to face Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday, went down at training on Wednesday after having his knee caught in contact.

“With the Springboks having the luxury of an enlarged 33-man squad in France for the international showpiece, and sufficient cover at hooker within the squad, he will not be replaced in the squad at this stage.

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    “The Springboks will depart for Bordeaux on Thursday afternoon where they will continue their preparations for Sunday’s round two encounter against Romania at Stade de Bordeaux.”

    Nienaber said: “First and foremost, we are extremely disappointed for Malcolm and we wish him all the best in his recovery. He has 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.

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    “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

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    “We will assess our needs for the rest of the tournament and confirm who we are calling up as an additional player later this week.”

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    Comments

    8 Comments
    b
    bob 516 days ago

    A fantastic player. A huge loss for the SA team and for level headed rugby fans.
    It must be galling for Marx too having trained and worked so hard to play in the World Cup.
    Get better soon.

    B
    Bob Marler 519 days ago

    Barring something catastrophic happening in his weekend game for Leicester, Pollard is almost certainly back for the boks.

    Off the bench against Tonga? Surely not as soon as Ireland. But back nonetheless.

    And this was always part of the plan as far as I’m concerned. Gave Manie the space to play 10 without what would have been the inevitable pressure from the public to pick Pollard ahead of him because “we need a kicker”. Which we do, no doubt. But what we really needed was to get Manie into the 10 jersey. Which he’s done.

    Pollard covering Manie until further notice. Off the bench in the games with a 5/3 split. Maybe, maybe covering 10 and 12 with the 6/2 split.

    I’d love to see him come off the bench at 12 and play alongside Manie. Tonga?

    That’s my prediction.

    H
    Hector 520 days ago

    He's a world class player and SA will miss him for sure.

    Can Handré Pollard hook? 😂

    N
    Neil 521 days ago

    They seem not to have confidence in Dweba? Mbonambi is a good player but will need experienced back up over multiple games you'd feel.

    M
    Muti 521 days ago

    Ooff, that hurts. He is a huge player and character in the squad and will be sorely missed. No like-for-like replacement to call upon & DF is clearly not test level at hooker. For sure Bongi will have his plate full from here on in 😅 sterkte 💪

    N
    Nigel 521 days ago

    Big loss for SA. One of a small handful of test level players in the squad. He brings more than just rugby skills to the table. He's a strong motivator and a good leader. Big loss.

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    JW 4 hours ago
    France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations

    Sorry my delivery on that joke was a bit bland. But to reply to the couple of good points you make, to me it just seemed like they had no plan with why Gatland was staying on. I mean the plan seemed to be “just get us a win against Italy and we can continue on as we are”, which is just terrible if that’s what Gatland was trying to achieve for Wales imo.


    Did it just happen to be Italy that he saw his team weren’t able to achieve his vision of success? I mean Italy are a very good side so its by no means a lost cause to not look like world beaters. Sure his focus should have been on more transient factors like growth and style for a full rebuild, not trying to avoid the wooden spoon.


    Which brings me to you main point, that would be exactly what the benefit of dropping down a tier would be. A chance to really implement something, get good at it, then take it up a level again once you’re ready. Even for Italy it must have been an incredibly brutal environment to have been trying to develop as a side.


    Not saying of course that the other EU teams would be any better, but it might be better for everyone if say ‘years of tough losses’ are shared between countries, rather than see Wales go through this journey two, three, possible four years in a row. Of course the main reason they don’t want to miss just one 6N season is because it would probably tank the game in their country missing out on all that revenue. I have always said they should look at widening the revenue share, there are plenty of competitions that have systems to keep bottom teams competitive, and the 6N would only make more money if it was a tierd competition with prom/rel.

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