South Africa called up flyhalf Handre Pollard to replace injured hooker Malcolm Marx at the Rugby World Cup on Sunday, leaving the Springboks with a front-row gamble for their title defense in France.
While Pollard’s addition gives South Africa the No. 10 who guided it to World Cup victory four years ago, there is just one specialist hooker in the squad in Bongi Mbonambi.
Instead of calling another front-rower in after Marx’s tournament-ending knee injury, Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber said he was confident he would be able to lean on two loose forwards in Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden to step in as hookers for the rest of the tournament.
Both of them have played in that position previously in their careers, but both came to the World Cup as flankers.
Fourie came off the bench to replace Mbonambi at hooker in South Africa’s 76-0 win over underdog Romania
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