Marx: Ref saw different picture at scrum time

REACTION: Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx believes his team were not rewarded for their scrum dominance in their Rugby Championship Round Three encounter against the Wallabies on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

The Springboks suffered a 26-28 loss, after flyhalf Quade Cooper slotted a penalty after the full-time hooter sounded.

While the Boks’ were poor in most aspects of the game, they did seem to get the ascendancy at scrum time.

This was especially the case in the second half – when Marx, Retshegofaditswe Nché and Vincent Koch came off the bench to form a formidable front row.

“There were scrums where we felt we were dominant and there was obviously a different picture that was maybe painted for the ref,” Marx told reporters in a virtual media briefing.

“Maybe that [Boks’ scrum dominance] is not what he saw.

“I’m always going to sit here and say I felt that we were dominant because I am Springbok.

“Maybe the pictures that we saw and the pictures he [referee Luke Pearce] saw were two different things.

“We will have a look and obviously work on it and see if we can improve.”

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Marx added: “There are things that are going to go your way and there are things that are not going to go your way in a game.

“I am obviously going to have a bias opinion towards us.

“I don’t think I can comment on what he [Pearce] saw.

“It is a tough question to answer, but that is just my personal opinion.”

Marx said there will be plenty of things to work on for his team.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow at the moment.

“We will have to look back at this game in detail and see where we made mistakes and what we can improve on.

“There is always work to be done, no matter if we win or lose.

“We always thrive to get better every single week regardless of what the result is. There will be things that we will focus on and work harder on this week in preparation for the next game,” said Marx.

@rugby365com