JOHANNESBURG – Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx says there's no time to bask in the glory of the team's Wellington conquest achieved just over two weeks ago.
The Boks shook the rugby world when they edged the All Blacks 36-34 in September. On Saturday the teams again cross paths, this time at Loftus Versfeld with nothing but pride at stake. New Zealand won the Rugby Championship title on Saturday when they scored a bonus point win over Argentina in Buenos Aires.
“That victory in Wellington was amazing but it’s in the past now and we have to focus on this week," said Marx. "We must concentrate on ourselves and where we can get better and obviously look at what we did wrong in the All Blacks and Australia games and try to improve on that.
“We provided a good base for the backs and we exited well. We obviously want to attack a bit more as we were on defence quite a bit. We will look at the coach’s plan and see where we go. Moving on from that is important because that is in the past. I’ve got to focus on this week and see what I can do better.”
“There is always a buzz and the guys are a bit more positive. Obviously beating New Zealand in New Zealand was huge for us and backing it up and beating the Aussies in Port Elizabeth made us very happy."
Last year at Newlands Marx produced a monster performance and that led many commentators to declare that he was the world's best No 2. The Boks came close to toppling the All Blacks but in the end, fell short by one point.
“It wasn’t me, it was the team, to be honest. If you saw how the guys prepped during the week, how hard we worked and if you watched the game carefully you saw how everyone around the field was working. It was immense. I won’t take the credit for that definitely not. The side scrummed well, the lineout functioned well, we played good rugby but unfortunately, we lost that game by one point."
— Malcolm Marx (@M_marxi2) September 16, 2018