Malcolm Marx has recalled how a schoolboy rugby intervention from former Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer helped shape his successful professional career.
One of the world’s leading hookers, renowned for his powerful ball-carrying and turnover prowess, Marx in September added a Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry winner’s medal to his World Cup, Rugby Championship and British & Irish Lions series collection.
He is set to play a key role for the Boks in the second leg of the Nations Championship this month, but things could have turned out differently were it not for Meyer.
In a wide-ranging interview on the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict podcast, the 94-cap Marx discussed converting to hooker from blindside flanker in matric at KES and the challenges that came with it.
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“I was a seven [flank],” he said. “Our first team rugby coach maybe had links to him [Meyer] and he suggested it to him, or to our school coach, ‘Look, you can try it. Obviously if it doesn’t work out, you can always just go back to seven or loose forward.’
“So I just said, ‘Ja, well got nothing to lose. Let’s just give it a go.’
“The throwing in was difficult if you’ve never thrown a ball before in your life. I was fortunate enough that [former Bok and Bulls assistant coach] John McFarland would help me on off days. He corrected a lot of the stuff that I was doing wrong.”
The 32-year-old is closing in on 30 Test tries and is the reigning World Rugby and SA Rugby Player of the Year, and revealed that getting the fundamentals right as a junior fortified his mental game.
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“I’d be lying if I say I did enjoy the first one [scrum session]. Especially against the scrum machine,” he added. “There’s a lot of weight on that thing, and that thing doesn’t move very easily.
“In the beginning, it was hard. There’s a lot of pressure. It could be the last lineout of the game, on the 5m line, and you need the ball to score and win.
“I struggled with some of that stuff mentally. If you miss one, you think, ‘Ah, this isn’t so great,’ or something like that.
“I think the moment I realised that errors are part of it, that they do happen, and that you just have to focus on the next thing, I felt a bit better about it.”
Photo: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images
The post How Heyneke changed Marx’s trajectory appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Malcolm Marx has recalled how a schoolboy rugby intervention from former Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer helped shape his successful professional career.
The post How Heyneke changed Marx’s trajectory appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
