{"id":335827,"date":"2023-10-02T23:50:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T23:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=335827"},"modified":"2023-10-03T02:02:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T02:02:46","slug":"sad-accident-a-cruel-end-to-champions-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=335827","title":{"rendered":"'Sad' accident a cruel end to champion's World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa<\/a> has called in 2019 winner Lukhanyo Am to replace injured winger Makazole Mapimpi at the Rugby World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Am, who normally plays centre, is South Africa's second injury replacement after flyhalf Handre Pollard was brought in when hooker Malcolm Marx was ruled out.<\/p>\n

Mapimpi has a fractured eye socket and will be out for four to six weeks, Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said.<\/p>\n

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Mapimpi was injured in a tackle by Tonga scrumhalf Augustine Pulu that led to the players clashing heads in Sunday's Pool B game in Marseille. Mapimpi left the field right after.<\/p>\n

\"Augustine<\/p>\n

Erasmus said Mapimpi might also have a fractured cheekbone.<\/p>\n

"It's sad that something like that happened," said Erasmus.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Impossible to deny': Meninga's huge call on GF hero<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Angry' Wallabies star set to hang up the boots<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Superhuman' NRL star's heart-breaking reaction to disaster<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"It was an accident. He has a fractured eye socket, a blow-out fracture. His eye is swollen and the cheekbone is also fractured I think. I think he's out for four to six weeks.<\/p>\n

"We will not just miss him as a brilliant rugby player but what he brings to the team. There is a lot of heart, a lot of honesty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Makazole<\/p>\n

"He doesn't say a lot but when he says something everybody listens. He trains hard, communicates beautifully on the field whilst he is really quiet off the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He never moans if he is not selected and helps the young boys who get selected.<\/p>\n

"If we get to the final we will definitely fly him back to join the rest of us here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"The same with the other guys who got injuries and went back to South Africa. It's sad but that's the game of rugby. Those collisions happen."<\/p>\n

\"Lukhanyo<\/p>\n

South Africa beat Tonga 49-18 in its final pool game to move to the brink of the quarterfinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The defending champions have to wait for the match between Ireland and Scotland to be certain of a place in the last eight.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Mapimpi was a Rugby World Cup winner with South Africa in 2019 but came to this tournament as a backup to first-choice wings Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse.<\/p>\n

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Am also was a key part of the Springboks' 2019 triumph and set up the first try of the final against England for Mapimpi.<\/p>\n

Am and Pollard initially missed out on this year's World Cup squad because of injury but were among a group of players put on standby. Am was back in training after recovering an August knee injury, the Springboks said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa has called in 2019 winner Lukhanyo Am to replace injured winger Makazole Mapimpi at the Rugby World Cup. Am, who normally plays centre, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":335829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=335827"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335833,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335827\/revisions\/335833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/335829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=335827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=335827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=335827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}