All Blacks hooker admits 'immovable' Marx caused 'a bit of havoc'

Coming up against the man widely considered to be the world’s best in your position is a rare opportunity in rugby, and one Samisoni Taukei’aho learnt a lot from in round two of The Rugby Championship.

The young All Black squared off with Malcolm Marx in the final 30 minutes of the match when Ian Foster’s reserves were deployed to combat Jacques Nienaber’s bomb squad in a game that still hung in the balance.

Taukei’aho entered the contest straight after Marx had touched down off a rolling maul try to cut New Zealand’s lead to ten. The try was evidence of South Africa’s foothold in the match and Taukei’aho’s injection was evidence of New Zealand’s need for a response.

It wasn’t the first time the Tongan-born hooker had faced the Springbok hardman, but the impression Marx left was vivid.

“He’s actually quite built and he’s quite tall,” Taukei’aho told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod. “Scrummaging-wise, you’ve got to nail it because sometimes he can separate you from your connection with your props and he does that quite well.

“I was quite lucky on the weekend I had Nepo (Laulala) on one side and big Tamaiti (Willimas) on the other so it was quite safe in the middle there.

“You’ve just got to nail those finer details in blocking and keeping him out because when he came on he caused a bit of havoc.

“He’s a quality player, obviously we know on the defensive side of it, over the ball, he’s pretty much immovable because he just locks in, he’s got really good technique. For a tall person, it’s really good. Around the field he’s world-class.”

The Springboks pride themselves on their physicality and set piece performance. Consequently, it is one of the first items on the opposition’s scouting report. Taukei’aho credited forwards coach Jason Ryan for getting the squad ready for the challenge, expressing his satisfaction with the scrum in particular.

“They’re big men, you’ve got to get that punch, otherwise you can be going backwards pretty quick. But we’ve just been nailing it all week and I think the boys executed really well on the weekend.

“Obviously with South Africa, you take away their maul and their scrum, that’s kind of their DNA and what they’ve set up their game around so take that away from them and you go a long way to getting the job done.”

One rolling maul try to the Springboks had left the hooker dreading the game review, knowing Jason Ryan’s high standards and blunt coaching style.

“He definitely won’t be happy about that one.”