Defending champions Springboks have been dealt a major blow with hooker Malcolm Marx ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a knee injury.
The team confirmed Marx had suffered a long-term injury hours after naming their squad to face Romania with the injury happening at training, with Marx's knee colliding with a team-mate.
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“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 like Lukhanyo (Am), Handre (Pollard) and Lood (de Jager) and support him as much as we can through the recovery process."
The South Africans will look to bring in another player to replace him, however, revealed it will likely not be a replacement hooker.
“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," Nienaber added.
“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.”
Fourie has been named on the bench as hooker cover for this week's match, last playing the position in August last year against Argentina.
Springboks coach Nienaber named four scrum-halves in his side to face Romania, with Mbonambi set to lead the team.
