Upstart Marx looks to usurp Creevy as No 1
IF THERE is one thing that the Argentines are famed for, other than their scrumming, it is the brutality at the breakdown. Led by the personification of Puma pride, captain Agustin Creevy, Argentina are masters of dominating that aspect of play. But have they met their match in Malcolm Marx?
In all the debate that has raged about the need for specialist fetchers in the game of rugby, especially in a South African setting, there was always a caveat when a certain Bismarck du Plessis was playing at hooker.
The powerhouse, all-action hooker was a feared menace when it came to defending, as well as when he carried the ball, however, his work at the breakdown was always severely underrated, but equally appreciated.
Du Plessis was a master of poaching the ball off opposition at the rucks. His broad frame, limpet-like over the ball, won penalties and dissolved the opposition’s forays into the Springboks’ red zone.
Having Du Plessis in the team allowed the Boks the ability to also beef up their loose forwards as the traditional fetcher mould, of a Heinrich Brussow, or Deon Stegmann, for example, was superfluous.
Willem Alberts, Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger in his latter years, and equally so Marcell Coetzee in his earlier years, even Siya Kolisi, could all be employed in combination with Du Plessis putting the fear of a breakdown battle in the opponents’ heads.
In recent times, since the days of Bismarck passed, one man has continued this menacing presence at the breakdown from the hooking position, and it is the Pumas captain Creevy. The former loose forward has many of the traits of Du Plessis, and especially when it comes to the breakdown.
Creevy is the current master of ball poaching in the tight forwards in world rugby, but it is not just his ability to work penalties or to turn over the ball, he is a menace at every breakdown he gets to. Creevy works hard to slow ball down whenever he can, and it rubs off on his fellow forwards as the Pumas continue to grow their reputation around their fearless leader.
However, while Creevy may have blossomed out of Du Plessis’s shadow on the world stage of breakdown dominance, there is a new shadow emerging from the South.
Malcolm Marx has caught more than a passing comment about his resemblance to the legendary Bok hooker whose boots he is looking to fill. Starting at his physical attributes, and moving on to his ability with ball in hand, Marx has been called Bismarck 2.0 more than once.
In fact, Marx has said that the former Sharks man was indeed a hero of his growing up, and that he learnt a few things off the old master by modelling his game around the former Grey College pupil.
Now however, more similarities are being drawn as Marx has shown on a few occasion he has a similar hunger for breakdown dominance.
And indeed, the penny fully dropped last Saturday when Marx showed he could go toe-to-toe with Creevy.
The opening stanzas of the match in Port Elizabeth were dominated by the Boks, going a little too lateral with plenty of phases, and not enough penetrations. A lot of that – good and bad – is because of Marx.
A number of times Marx was ferociously smashing rucks, and would-be poachers like Creevy, out of the way to effect quick ball. Additionally, the typified line-breaking runs from Marx were also missing in that lateral passage of play as he moved from ruck to ruck.
As the game wore on, and the Pumas got more involved, Marx gave the opposition a taste of their own medicine as he won a crucial turnover – and also got penalised trying the same.
Creevy may have edged the young Lions hooker in the stats category for turnovers, by just one, but there is no doubting that the current master is feeling a presence, a force that is looking to usurp him as the premier all-action hooker.
In modern rugby, many will agree that Du Plessis was, and still is, the benchmark for excellence. He was not just another prop for scrumming, but he could scrum damn well; he was not just a ball-runner a la Dane Coles, but could make big metres; and he was not just a ruck-hitter in the old fashioned sense of the word, but he was always a menace there. And it is these facets that Marx is looking to master.
Creevy holds the mantle as it stands, but the young upstart is looking to take that crown, and another encounter on the Pumas captain’s home ground will be a perfect place for the ultimate showdown to happen.