Malcolm Marx reveals how suggestion from ex-Springboks coach resulted in his positional switch
Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx and ex-South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer (inset).
Malcolm Marx has revealed how a “suggestion” from former Springboks head coach Heyneke Meyer resulted in him switching his position from back-row to hooker.
Marx, who won World Rugby’s prestigious player of the year award in 2025, has been voted in the Springboks Dream XV as the best hooker in the modern era.
The 32-year-old has become the Boks‘ first-choice number two in recent seasons and is edging closer to playing in his 100th Test for the world champions after making 94 appearances for them since making his international bow against the All Blacks in Christchurch in 2016.
Full of praise for other Springboks hookers
“To be compared against some of the guys that have done it before me, John Smit, Bismarck du Plessis, obviously world-renowned for the way that they played and how they have done on the rugby field,” Marx told the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict show after being voted as the best Bok hooker.
“That’s obviously the fans’ choice, but my opinion is obviously those guys were ahead of me in the prior years. The way they played rugby and what they did was something that I looked up to, so I’m very honoured and really happy to be here.”
Marx initially shone as a blindside flanker while attending King Edward VII School in Johannesburg and represented the Golden Lions at the U18 Craven Week tournament in 2011.
However, it was on the recommendation of Meyer that Marx was moved from the flank to hooker in his final year at school and he represented the Lions at Craven Week a second time as well as the South African Schools’ side in 2012.
“Yeah, there was influence from him (Meyer), yes,” he said about the decision to make the shift from the back-row to the front-row.
“Our school coach, our first team rugby coach maybe had links to him, I don’t know, through rugby or somewhere and he suggested it to him or to our school coach. He said, ‘Look, you can try it. Obviously, if it doesn’t work out, you can always just try and go back to seven or to loose forward’.
‘Let’s just give it a go’
“I just said, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose, let’s just give it a go’.”
Marx admitted that adapting to the rigours of the front-row was not an easy task and it took him some time before he settled into his new position.
“The throw-ins are so difficult. If you’ve never thrown a ball before in your life, it’s very, very difficult,” he explained. “I was fortunate enough, (ex-Springboks and Bulls assistant coach) John McFarland, he was our defence coach for a while.
“So, he would help me on off days and stuff like that. He corrected a lot of the stuff that I was doing wrong.”
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Marx revealed that packing down at hooker at training for scrummaging sessions was particularly difficult. “I’d be lying if I said I did enjoy the first one, because I really didn’t.
“Especially against a scrum machine. There’s a lot of weight on that thing and that thing doesn’t move very easily. There’s nowhere to go.”
