Springbok legend John Smit has described Malcolm Marx as the bane of existence for every team he faces after another big outing from the best player on the planet.
Reigning World Rugby and SA Rugby Player of the Year, Marx starred on and off the ball as South Africa beat the All Blacks 29-24 last week to go 2-1 up in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series before Saturday’s finale in Baltimore.
Speaking on the I Love Rugby podcast with Wallabies great George Gregan and ex-Scotland lock Jim Hamilton, Smit extolled the values of arguably his best successor.
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“There are a couple of things about Malcolm that make him the best in the world, certainly the best who’s worn the No 2 shirt in South Africa,” the 111-cap hooker said.
“He’s a beast. He’s a monstrous man. He’s big, athletic, fast. He carries well, he steals, he scrums, he’s got an unbelievable throw. There’s no real chinks in the armour.
“He’s the kind of guy who gets in there and serves. He provides a level of confidence that when you sit in a change room before a big Test match and you look around and you see [him], you think, ‘I’m going to be okay.’
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“Probably his first Test [of 2026] was the quietest we’ve seen him because he hadn’t played a bit for a while, and I think he took that to heart. And he just got better and better.
“The last thing I’ll say about Malcolm is that he must be the bane of existence for every opposition team that plays against him. but I don’t think there’s one person in world rugby who doesn’t like him as a human afterwards … that says a lot about the guy.”
The Boks went 12-5 down at FNB Stadium and found a way to fight back through a first-half penalty try from a scrum that settled a week of back and forth between coaches Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie.
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“The thing that stands out for me in that Test is that every South African, every ‘green goblin’, was waiting for the scrum to deliver,” Smit added.
“South Africa need that weaponised scrum to create their confidence and get that psychological benefit.
“I actually called it sitting next to Vincent [Koch], who was watching with me, and I just said, ‘If this scrum is par or New Zealand get a penalty, I can promise you we’re in for a dogfight’.
“We took a bet and I said, ‘Hundred bucks it’s a penalty try’. And he said, ‘Hundred bucks it’s nothing’. So I’m a hundred rand richer, guys.”
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
The post Barney: Marx a ‘beast who serves Boks’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Springbok legend John Smit has described Malcolm Marx as the bane of existence for every team he faces after another big outing from the best player on the planet.
The post Barney: Marx a ‘beast who serves Boks’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
