Malcolm Marx rewrites Springbok history books with Italy double

A brace of tries by Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx against Italy in Turin on Saturday saw the 32-year-old further extend his record as the leading all-time forward try scorer for South Africa.

Marx, who was playing in his 95th Test, scored from the base of rolling mauls in the 19th and 31st minutes to score his 30th and 31st tries in the green and gold jersey.

Marx, the reigning World Rugby Player of the Year, has now scored five Test tries against Italy in as many matches.

Move up the list

Incredibly, Marx is now the fifth-highest all-time try scorer for the Springboks and is well on course to surpass fourth-place Jaque Fourie (32), third-placed Makazole Mapimpi (33) and second-placed Joost van der Westhuizen (38) before hanging up his boots.

Leading try scorer Bryan Habana with 67 tries may be out of reach of the two-time Rugby World Cup winner.

Marx’s 155 Test points puts him in 18th place in the list of all-time Springbok Test points scorers.

His double against Italy at the Allianz Stadium moved him ahead of Pat Lambie (153 points) and Butch James (154 points).

Many years ahead

In terms of the all-time leading try-scoring forward in Test rugby history, Marx currently sits in fourth place behind retired loose forward duo Takashi Kikutani (Japan, 32 tries) and Diego Ormaechea from Uruguay (33 tries), while All Blacks star Ardie Savea (35 tries) leads the way – for now.

That means Marx is the all-time leading front-row try scorer.

At just 32 years of age, Marx has several years ahead of him – if he so wishes – to further rewrite rugby union’s history books.

Earlier this week Marx confirmed his departure from Japan, joining the Bulls in Pretoria.

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