Rugby World Cup star ruled out of tournament after ‘spider bite’ in France

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Namibia star Johan Retief has seen his Rugby World Cup come to an end after reportedly being bitten by a spider which required medical attention in France. The versatile forward started both the first two games of his country’s tournament but was curiously absent for their heavy defeat to France.

Uruguayan outlet El Observador has claimed that Retief was bitten by a spider at the team hotel in Aix-les-Bains, causing an infection which required medical attention. The forward is not thought to be seriously hurt as a result of the bite, but his tournament has come to an early end.

As a result of their difficult and packed schedule, the Namibian team have had no free days during the tournament and have spent the entirety of the World Cup in their hotel between games. Despite this, the African side still have managed to suffer one of the strangest injuries in the history of the sport.

“Johan Retief is quite a weird one. He has developed an abscess close to his pectoral area which means the wound has been open,” Namibia head coach Allister Coetzee explained during Monday’s team announcement.

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The next day, backs coach Chrysander Botha added: “You can’t foresee those things. It is very unfortunate what happened with Johan, and we will miss him because he is a very classy player in the lineout and he can play as a four or a seven. But that also opens up opportunities for other players.”

Even though neither coach directly referenced a spider bite, Botha did not refute the claims put forward and seemed to confirm the  injury to one of his key men – coming at the same time that captain Johan Deysel was handed a six-match ban after his red-card challenge on France star Antoine Dupont.

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“Johan Deysel is our leader and has always been an example for everyone,” Botha added at Namibia’s pre-match press conference. “His expulsion was an accident, those things happen and he never had bad intentions.”

The coach came to the defence of Namibia’s skipper after he received waves of abuse online as Dupont was sent to hospital following the tackle, where he underwent surgery on a fractured cheekbone – though the team are hopeful he can participate in the tournament even as early as the quarter-finals.

But Namibia will be without two of their key men in Deysel and Retief, through suspension and a spider bite, while Le Roux Malan, Wian Conradie and Divan Rousseau are all also set to miss their final match of the tournament against Uruguay.

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