‘A freak accident,’ says Bok boss Nienaber of Marx’s injury blow

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has expanded on the ‘freak accident’ suffered by influential Bok hooker Malcolm Marx in training on Wednesday, that has ruled him out of the Rugby World Cup.

Nienaber was speaking in Bordeaux ahead of the Boks’ second pool match against Romania at the Stade de Bordeaux on Sunday afternoon, where they will be aiming to go two from two and take another step towards the competition quarterfinals.

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The Boks’ attempt to defend the title they won in Japan in 2019 will have to be done without Marx, with Nienaber admitting that it was a massive blow on all levels to the team.

“It was a freak accident, his legs just got caught in another player’s legs. 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,” explained Nienaber.

Various levels

“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 because of 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.”

Opens door

Although it is extremely sad for Marx, his injury is set to open a door for another player to step in and have a shot at World Cup glory.

Deon Fourie, as the team’s ‘third choice’ hooker, is set to be the immediate beneficiary of the injury as he should now find a spot on the bench in the big games as back-up to Bongi Mbonambi.

It will also see another player outside the squad being called in to replace Marx, with one of either flyhalf Handre Pollard or hooker Joseph Dweba expected to come in.

“When players get injured you can look at it as if the cup is half empty or the cup is half full, and we look at it as if the cup is half full, because if there weren’t injuries previously Malcolm wouldn’t have been in the mix,” said Nienaber.

“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.” 

Little impact

With the Boks in action against Romania on Sunday the Marx injury didn’t impact the team too much as he was never in line to play in the game, but it will affect the team going forward.

“When the injury happened it didn’t affect our team going into this match, at all. So we will discuss it after the game, we’re fully focused on Romania, because we should show them that respect. It’s only the second time we’ve played them in a World Cup so it’s a special game for us,” said Nienaber.

“We should also show that respect to the players that we selected to play in the match, so we’re not talking about anything other than Romania.”