The South Africa wing Makazole Mapimpi has been ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup with a fractured eye socket, the director of rugby Rassie Erasmus confirmed on Monday.
Mapimpi was injured in a clash of heads with Augustine Pulu in the Springboks’ 49-18 Pool B victory over Tonga in Marseille on Sunday, which edged them closer to a quarter-final place. The incident was reviewed by the Television Match Official, but not sanctioned with a yellow card.
“Makazole is out of the World Cup,” Erasmus told reporters. “It is very sad, it was an accident, but he has a fractured eye socket and he is out for four to six weeks. We will miss him because he is a brilliant rugby player and a fantastic person.”
While no longer first choice in the side, Mapimpi has bags of experience having played a central role in South Africa’s 2019 World Cup victory in Japan.
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“If we get to the final we will fly him back to join us here. It is sad but that is the game of rugby, these collisions happen,” Erasmus added.
South Africa later announced that centre Lukhanyo Am will join up with the squad in Mapimpi’s place.
The Springboks must wait until Saturday’s game between Ireland and Scotland in Paris to learn their quarter-final fate, but are in a strong position with a last-eight meeting with hosts France looking the most likely outcome.
There is, however, an unlikely way the Springboks can be knocked out of the tournament, which has generated much debate on social media. If Scotland beat top-ranked Ireland by 21 points or more, scoring a try bonus point, and the latter get a bonus point for tries scored, then both advance and South Africa are out. If Scotland win by eight points or more with no Irish bonus point then they and South Africa advance.
After the victory over Tonga, Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber addressed the former scenario when asked if he could forsee a situation in which Ireland and Scotland could work together to send South Africa out.
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“That would be match-fixing. It would be extremely disappointing,” he said. “Could I believe in a scenario that they would decide on a scenario that they would decide, ‘OK, they would get that amount of points and therefore get South Africa out of the World Cup?’ I hope not. That would be extremely disappointing, don’t you think?”
Such a scenario remains unlikely; Scotland have not beaten Ireland since 2017, and not by more than 20 points since 2001.
And Erasmus said: “We would rather sit here than be Ireland, who have been No 1 in the world all this time and Scotland just have to beat them by eight points and they are out of the tournament,” he said. “Of the three teams, we are probably the most comfortable.”