Colossus Marx shows he can fill gap Vermeulen left
The answer to the question of what the Springboks will do in the Rugby Championship in the absence of Duane Vermeulen has been answered in the closing stages of Super Rugby. That answer is Malcolm Marx.
Vermeulen, the glue that kept the Boks together in the 2-1 series win over England, will be missing from the Championship due to Japanese club commitments. His absence will leave a hole to be filled.
But the Boks were missing 2017’s South African Player of the Year in the three matches in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and Cape Town.
Easily the best Bok player in 2017, Marx playing in the same pack as Vermeulen would have made the hosts particularly formidable. Unfortunately Bok fans won’t have the privilege of watching them play together until the end-of-year tour, but in the meantime Marx, even though they play different positions, will provide a good swap for the big No 8 in terms of what he can do, both in terms of impact on play and as a talisman that inspires and emboldens those around him.
The Lions hooker is one of those rare players you can say almost makes a team, and this was illustrated perhaps by how slow the Lions coaches were to take Marx off in the quarterfinal against the Jaguares even though he was battling with an injury in the second half.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus will not have been pleased to hear Marx telling the Lions medical staff that his shoulder was sore, and neither would the Lions coaches, for they will depend heavily on him if they are to achieve their goal of winning the competition.
The Bok coach would also have been super impressed with the role that Marx played in securing the Lions a place in the semifinal in the face of what at times was a strong challenge from the Jaguares.
In the first half Marx was in the vanguard of a forward effort that laid the foundation for victory. The Jaguares dominated possession in the early stages but the Lions scrum made a strong statement while Marx also contributed strongly in the tight loose.
His intercept try proved a crucial score, for the Jaguares might have been in a position to challenge strongly had they not started their early second-half fightback 15 points behind. It didn’t look good for the Lions when the Jaguares scored two tries in quick succession to make it 27-23 but then up stepped Marx in a different role: it was his strong playing to the ball on the ground that held up the Jaguares’ fightback and turned the game back in the home team’s favour.
Without his turnovers, without his intercept try, perhaps without the strength he adds to the scrums, the Lions probably wouldn’t have won.
With Vermeulen absent in the Championship there is still a debate to be had about the make-up of the Bok back row. Warren Whiteley must come back at No 8, but a trio of Siya Kolisi in the No 6 jersey, Pieter-Steph du Toit or Jean-Luc du Preez at blindside flank and Kolisi does lack balance.
However Marx will bring the playing-to-the-ball role that Vermeulen is so good at. He will also bring that indefinable something that makes the Lions a different team when he is present.
Yes, they did lose to the Sharks in his first game back, but no one who saw that game will argue against the contention that the Lions gifted the Sharks their win by not kicking the points that would have created scoreboard pressure, something that they mercifully did do in the quarterfinal.
The Lions pack took a notable step up in Durban, and again against the Bulls in the final league game and it continued against the Jaguares. The Waratahs shouldn’t be able to live with them this week, though that could depend on the availability of Marx and perhaps too that of the regular Waratahs captain, Michael Hooper.
It is not clear whether Hooper will be available to play in Johannesburg, but he was in the coaches’ box when the Waratahs came back from the dead to beat the Highlanders in Sydney at the weekend. .
If Marx is present though Hooper’s availability shouldn’t make a difference. Marx is just that good.