Jacques Nienaber says the Springboks are taking a “glass half-full” approach to Malcolm Marx’s injury after the star hooker was ruled out of the World Cup.
One of the original members of the Bomb Squad that helped South Africa win the 2019 World Cup, Marx was on Thursday ruled out of the remainder of this year’s tournament with a long-term knee injury.
MORE: Marx loss a body blow to Boks
Marx, who was to put his legs up for the World Cup second-round clash against Romania, suffered the injury during a training session on Wednesday.
“It was a freak accident, his legs just got caught in another player’s legs,” Nienaber said, during a press conference.
“It was in a contact session, it was a team run and it was just unfortunate. I’m not sure of the details of the injury but it’s serious in the fact that he’s not available for the World Cup.”
Nienaber admitted that Marx’s injury has put a dampener on the Boks’ mood after they started their campaign on a high with a 15-point win over Scotland.
“It’s a blow on various levels. When we left Toulon to come to Bordeaux we were all sad. Rugby players work incredibly hard for four years to come to a World Cup, the players sacrifice a lot and their families sacrifice a lot, so for him to miss out on it for such a freak accident is a big blow.
“The second blow, every individual in our team adds something to the Boks, to the team, so we lose that. The typical thing is in the mornings I would see Malcolm with his daughter in his arms so I’m going to miss that and the chats that we had.
“And then thirdly you lose a quality rugby player as a team, but also the World Cup loses a quality rugby player, and every fan wants to see the best players play in a World Cup. But we’re not the first team that’s had this happen, and it’s not the last guy that the World Cup will lose to injury.”
MORE: Why the Boks will miss Marx
However, Nienaber put a positive spin on the blow, by saying that Marx’s absence will present an opportunity for someone else to shine in France.
The Boks have yet to call up a replacement and aren’t expected to jet anyone to France before the game against Romania.
“When players get injured you can look at it as the cup is half empty or the cup is half full, and we look at it as the cup is half full, because if there wasn’t injuries previously Malcolm wouldn’t have been in the mix, so sometimes injury or loss of form gives players the opportunity and then they become world stars.
“It creates opportunities for different players to step up.”
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