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Springboks statement: Malcolm Marx ruled out of Rugby World Cup
By Liam Heagney
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.
“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.”
LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Siya Kolisi issues a passionate Rugby World Cup defence of Springboks No10 Manie Libbok after he was taken off place kicking duties versus Scotland in Marseille. #Springboks #RSAvSCO #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/LcFMYjqp8e
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 11, 2023
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.
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.
He's a world class player and SA will miss him for sure.
Can Handré Pollard hook? 😂
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.
There is confidence in Dweba, hence his inclusion in the back up squad. Deon Fourie is given a go first merely because he is already in France and it seems was planned v Romania anyway, but at his age will struggle to get through many of what will be intense matches further along the way - if he can even rise to the challenge of being a test hooker that is. It places much pressure on Bongi and surely Dweba will get a call up in any event. That said, anyone can guess which player would be first on the list of desired call ups, alas Pollard is too tall to slot in at hooker 😂 Marx is a huge loss, but RWC will throw up many challenges and teams have to face them, overcome them and win multiple times if they're to succeed in the ultimate goal. An injury too far? Who knows? What I do know is that the team will work harder than ever to achieve results for their injured brother(s).
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 💪
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.