South Africa hooker Malcolm Marx has been ruled out for the rest of the 2023 Rugby World Cup due to injury.
The 29-year-old sustained a knee injury during a contact session in training earlier this week and has now been forced to withdraw from the defending champions' squad.
Head coach Jacques Nienaber confirmed that the Springboks will call up a replacement player later this week, but as things stand Bongi Mbonambi is the only specialist hooker in the squad for Sunday's Pool B clash with Romania.
However, Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden, both of whom also play in the back row, were named by Nienaber as possibilities to add bench cover this weekend in Bordeaux.
"We are extremely disappointed for Malcolm. It's tragic that his campaign has ended this way," Nienaber told reporters.
"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.
"We have enough cover at hooker with Bongi and Deon in the squad, while Marco has also been training there and has been named on all our team sheets so far as a hooker option."
Marx is widely regarded as one of the best hookers in world rugby and was part of the Springboks squad that won the World Cup in Japan four years ago.
The holders began their campaign with a 18-3 victory over Scotland last weekend, and matches against Ireland and Tonga are still to come after Sunday's meeting with Romania.
Barney Corkhill
