South Africa hooker Malcolm Marx has been ruled out of the remainder of the Rugby World Cup with a long-term knee injury.
The 29-year-old, who started his side’s 18-3 Pool B win over Scotland on Sunday in Marseille, sustained the problem in training on Wednesday.
Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber will call up a replacement player in the coming days.
Defending champions South Africa take on Romania on Sunday in Bordeaux ahead of a Paris showdown with Ireland six days later.
“First and foremost, we are extremely disappointed for Malcolm and we wish him all the best in his recovery,” Nienaber told sarugby.co.za.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
