Revealed: How Marx suffered ‘freak injury’

The Springboks have revealed exactly how Malcolm Marx suffered the training ground injury that has ruled him out of the World Cup.

South Africa have confirmed that hooker Malcolm Marx will miss the rest of Rugby World Cup 2023 with a “long-term” knee injury. Photo: SA Rugby website

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx has been ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a serious knee injury in training.

Of all the setbacks the Springboks would have wanted to avoid, an injury to Marx would have been at the top of the list.

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Coach Jacques Nienaber has now revealed that the injury was suffered in the most unfortunate circumstances

“It was a freak accident. His leg got caught in another’s players legs during a training session.”

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“It’s a blow on many levels and the entire team was sad when we left Toulon to travel to Bordeaux,” the Springbok coach added.

“It’s sad firstly for Malcolm and his family, who have sacrificed so much in the last few years for him to be here. We’ll miss what he brings to the team on and off the field.

“We’ve been together for the last 12 or 13 weeks and every individual brings something different to the side.

“It’s also a loss for the Rugby World Cup. You want to see the best players facing each other in the competition and he’s undoubtedly one of the best in the world.”

SPRINGBOKS PREPARING TO BID FAREWELL TO MARX

Bad news for the Springboks. Malcolm Marx is out of the World Cup. @Netwerk24Sport @Netwerk24 #Springboks #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/lArKM1Tew8
— Hendrik Cronjé (@hendrikcronje71) September 14, 2023

Unconfirmed but strong rumour is that Malcolm Marx’s #RWC2023 is over.

The Springboks hooker has reportedly torn his ACL. 🤕 #RSA pic.twitter.com/4IsolDD3YY
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) September 14, 2023

The Springboks, meanwhile, have stated that they feel Bongi Mbonambi, Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden (who has been training at hooker) will provide sufficient cover at hooker.

On calling up a potential replacement, Nienaber said: “We’ll decide after Sunday’s game. At this stage we are fully focused on the match against Romania, and it would be disrespectful to the players participating in the match to focus on [calling up a replacement] now.”

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