Hooker Malcolm Marx sustained a knee injury in training on Wednesday and scans revealed the worst news possible for the Bok camp. He has been ruled out of Rugby World Cup 2023.

It’s a huge blow as Marx is a massive cog in the gameplan. His absence will also shift more workload on Bongi Mbonambi.

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

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

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“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.”

Stormers hooker Joseph Dweba is believed to be on standby and is the only other hooker the Boks have used in the past three seasons.

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. DM