Updated at 11.51
THE SPRINGBOKS HAVE been hit by a big injury blow with confirmation that hooker Malcolm Marx’s World Cup is over.
South Africa have officially announced that Marx suffered a “long-term” knee injury in training and will miss the rest of the tournament.
29-year-old Marx is a world-class hooker and his absence is a setback ahead of the highly-anticipated Pool B clash with Ireland next weekend.
Interestingly, South Africa say they will not replace Marx at this stage, given that they have “sufficient cover at hooker within the squad.”
The Boks do also have the outstanding hooker Bongi Mbonambi in their group. Deon Fourie is the other player in the Springboks squad who plays at hooker, even if he has predominantly featured in the back row in recent seasons. The Boks say that back row Marco van Staden has also been training at hooker.
It seems likely that the Boks are keen to wait until after this weekend’s meeting with Romania to see if there are any further injuries heading into next week.
Stormers hooker Joseph Dweba is part of the Springboks’ standby list.
“First and foremost, we are extremely disappointed for Malcolm, and we wish him all the best in his recovery,” said Springboks 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.”
Mention of Pollard, Am, and de Jager is intriguing, given that many people have been expecting at least one of that trio to be called up to the World Cup at some stage after they missed out on the initial squad due to injuries.
South Africa’s current injury list includes influential second row Eben Etzebeth, although he is expected to be fit to face Ireland. The Boks have heavily rotated for this weekend’s clash with Romania in Bordeaux.
Meanwhile, Scotland hooker David Cherry has been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup after suffering a head injury when he slipped on stairs at the team hotel, the Scottish rugby federation announced on Thursday.
Cherry suffered a concussion after “an accident in the team hotel earlier this week” and is now following the current return-to-play protocols, the federation said.
That means he will be unavailable for at least the next 12 days.
“The decision was therefore taken to end his tournament involvement on medical grounds after he injured his head on Monday, slipping on hotel stairs, on a team day off,” it said.
Cherry added: “I’m hugely disappointed to be leaving the squad with concussion.
“I’ve loved my time in camp over the summer and gaining my first World Cup cap on Sunday against South Africa.
“I want to wish the team all the best for the remainder of the competition.”
Edinburgh hooker Stuart McInally, who was initially put on standby following a concussion sustained by Ewan Ashman last week, has been called up to replace Cherry.
Ashman is continuing his return-to-play protocols and is currently on track to be available for selection next week.
Scotland kicked off their World Cup campaign with an 18-3 defeat by defending champions South Africa.
Next up for them in Pool B is Tonga in Nice on 24 September, followed by Romania in Lille six days later before they face Ireland in Paris on 7 October.
