The Boks' mongrel from Germiston humbled by surreal win

REACTION: Winning the Rugby Championship back–to-back is an unreal feeling and one that will only sink in later, says Bok Juggernaut Malcolm Marx.

The 31-year-old hooker will likely remember his 84th Test match for a long time. Not only did the Springboks make history by retaining the title, but the Springbok hooker was an integral part of that performance.

His two tries sealed the match for the Springboks while he was a menace on the ground, hunting and turning over possession more than once.

Marx’s brace lifted him to joint-sixth on the all-time try-scorer’s list in what was easily his best performance of the year.

The powerful hooker was a menace at the breakdown, and the Pumas just gave him too much time to get over the ball. And while he wasn’t always on the right side of referee Andrea Piardi’s whistle, that comes with the territory.

He put in his share of crunching tackles as well. He went over for a try shortly after the break, being at the back of a maul which he has done so many times in his career. He had a near-perfect lineout display. His second came from a pick-and-go, which came after he pounced on a loose ball (which came from his only botched lineout).

“It’s a bit surreal to be honest, I’m just extremely grateful for everything that has happened over the past few weeks, the lessons learned, the victories we’ve had.

“What we’ve achieved will probably sink in over the next few days. But there’s still a lot of hard work ahead to improve ourselves.

“I don’t know how to put it into words. I am just very thankful for everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks.

“We just tried to focus on ourselves and obviously give the best performance we could,” he said, adding. “There were errors, and areas where we can be better, but we’ll definitely take the victory and enjoy it.”

Marx agreed that the performance needed polishing, especially in the first half, when things didn’t click for the Boks. Trailing 10-13 at halftime meant fixing a host of errors.

“There were highs and lows, but we stuck together and made it through.

Speaking about that struggling first half, the No.2 said: “We definitely expected them to come out like that. They’re a great nation and a proud rugby side. It was tough, as the scoreline suggested.

“Last year they beat us when we played away, and to beat them twice in a row is obviously something special for us.”