BREAKING: Another knee injury in the Bok camp
INJURY UPDATE: Another key player in the Springbok camp has gone down with a knee injury.
Just days after hooker Malcolm Marx was ruled out of the tournament, following a freak training ground accident, prop Vincent Koch pulled out of the game against Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday.
Coach Jacques Nienaber confirmed that Koch suffered a knee injury and pulled up lame in the pre-match warm-up.
It resulted in a late scramble – with Trevor Nyakane starting at tighthead and Frans Malherbe coming onto the bench.
While the late disruption did not seem to hamper the team much – as they breezed past a hapless Romania team to win 76-0 – another knee injury in the front row is cause for concern.
Nienaber said they will assess Koch overnight and the full extent of the injury will be confirmed Monday or Tuesday.
South Africa scored 12 tries in their 76-point Pool B at whitewash Stade de Bordeaux.
The impressive win follows the Round One win over Scotland in Marseille seven days ago
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It took just over 10 minutes for South Africa to record a bonus pointy – as they raced to a 26-0 lead with tries from Cobus Reinach (two), Makazole Mapimpi and Damian Willemse, before Reinach made it a hat-trick to enter the break 33-0 ahead.
In the second half, Mapimpi scored a brace to pick up his hat-trick, while Deon Fourie, Grant Williams (two) and Willie Le Roux also crossed the line in a dominant display by the Springboks.
Mapimpi, Man of the Match, thanked the Boks fans who roared their approval whenever their team kept the scoreboard moving in their favour.
“We appreciate that. I see you guys behind us all the time,” said the wing.
“I don’t put myself in front [first], it’s all about the team. It’s not about me walking over to score the tries. A lot of guys did well – André [Esterhuizen], Willie [Le Roux] – and I appreciate their work.”
South Africa will now focus on playing Ireland in Saint-Denis on Saturday in a confident mood.
“I’m especially happy with a couple of things we tried,” Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said.
“The three different hookers that we used – I thought that paid off. Then Faf [de Klerk] got some exposure at 10 – so I thought a lot of things that we wanted to get out of the game, we got.”
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