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Marx’s anointment as world’s best is reminder of missing Bok jigsaw piece

rugby24 November 2025 07:31
By:Gavin Rich
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There was some sentimental support for Ox Nche as it would have been great to see a prop recognised for once, but Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx’s anointment as the finest rugby player on the planet this year was well deserved and a good reward for his massive contribution to his team's success.

The video distributed on social media summed up how popular Marx is within the Bok squad, with his team’s converging on him with obvious unbounded joy and delight. In that number was Pieter-Steph du Toit, twice winner of the World Rugby Player of the Year Award, and of course although he wasn’t there, another finalist for the award, Nche, is also one of Marx’s teammates.

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That the award came straight after the Boks’ dominant forward performance that drove their 34-13 win over Ireland in Dublin that both ended a 13 year drought at the Aviva Stadium and also underlined his team’s dominance of world rugby was also apt. For until recently there was some debate about who was the world’s best hooker.

South Africans were convinced it was Marx, but there was some argument out of Ireland that Dan Sheehan was the best of the wearers of the No 2 jersey. Not anymore. Not only is Marx the best hooker in the world, he is also the best rugby player in the world, with his teammate Du Toit probably his nearest challenger when it comes to on-field influence during games.

STARTED SLOWLY

Marx started the year slowly and took ownership for some poor lineout throwing performances early in the international season, while he wasn’t his usual sharp self at the breakdowns.

Although his value was underlined by being pressed into playing at least around 70 minutes in every game he played, it was felt that he might be carrying an injury around the time that the Boks lost to Australia in Johannesburg August and then were less than convincing a week later in their win over the same opponents in Cape Town.

However he hit top form once the team got to New Zealand for the middle games of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship and although he sat out the Italy game in Turin, he has generally been the one constant presence both in the starting team and for the bulk of every 80 minutes the Boks have played.

Which cues the one missing part of the jigsaw for a Bok squad that has mostly started to function like a machine as the next World Cup, which is now less than two years down the track, starts coming into view.

That the Boks can win a World Cup without him we know for they did it in 2023, when he was injured in the Pool phase of the tournament and the Boks got home with Deon Fourie, normally a flanker, at hooker for most of the final against the All Blacks.

But Bongi Mbonambi was still in his pomp then and his authority as the alternative hooker appears to have waned since then. One of the best if not THE best scrumming hookers in the world, it looks like Mbonambi, who also hasn’t been in great form when he’s played for his franchise team, the Hollywoodbets Sharks, it looks like Mbonambi will get a playing opportunity in the final Bok game of the year against Wales in Cardiff at the weekend.

It does look though at the moment that the world’s current best player, with his massive influence at the breakdowns as well as in the scrums and on the drive, may leave a hole that is hard to fill if he is injured again.

He is only 31, so there shouldn’t be too much doubt about him still being around at the next World Cup in Australia in 2027, but Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has worked hard at his succession planning in most positions.

JAN-HENDRIK’S BAN SCUPPERED THE PLAN

Unfortunately circumstances conspired against him on this tour, for although Johan Grobbelaar took his opportunity against Italy, the real like-for-like replacement for Marx going forward looks to be Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Yes, he’s also possibly the like-for-like replacement for Nche, although neither of the two loosehead props who did duty against Ireland, Boan Venter and Gerhard Steenekamp, looked anything less than world class in their positions.

Wessels was prevented from using the current tour to further continue a breakthrough that started threatening when the Boks were in New Zealand by the controversial decision taken by a URC disciplinary committee to slap him with a long ban on the say-so of an opposition player for an incident that was alleged to have taken place when he was playing for the Vodacom Bulls just before the tour.

The fact that Erasmus was talking about Marco van Staden as a hooker backup (Mbonambi wasn’t with the team then) ahead of the Italy game might have been an indication that Wessels is seen as the next cab off the rank, with Marnus van der Merwe, based in Wales, not selected for this tour although he played in some of the games played during the southern hemisphere international season.

The fact that Marx invariably goes so deep, beyond 70 minutes in most games, underlines how valuable he is to the Boks right now. Erasmus, and South African fans, might rest a bit easier at night once they are sure there’s another Marx there to reprise his role when, for whatever reason, he may be unable to be there.

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