Malcolm Marx has rejected the idea of designating any single venue as a Springbok fortress, declaring that the entire country represents the national side's stronghold ahead of Saturday's Test against New Zealand at Ellis Park.
The hooker, whose 27 tries rank him fifth on the all-time Springbok list and first amongst forwards, addressed media in Johannesburg this week. "I think the whole of South Africa is our fortress, to be honest," Marx said. "It doesn't matter where we play, who we're playing against, like I said before, we prepare the best that we can and we know we're not just representing ourselves and our families, we've got 64-, 65-million people that we're trying to represent and represent them the best that we can on the day."
The veteran of 89 Tests confirmed the Springboks had been working intensively on breakdown work, one of the All Blacks' traditional strengths. "We're doing a lot of analysis and seeing where we can be better from previous games and seeing the threats that they bring in that aspect of the game," Marx said. "So working really hard at the things that we need to improve on and bearing in mind the small things that they do around the breakdown and looking at this opportunity for us as well."
Marx also dismissed suggestions that the Springboks would dominate the scrums simply because of their 43-10 victory in their last encounter in Wellington. The series continues at Cape Town Stadium the following Saturday before moving to FNB Stadium on 5 September, with a fourth Test scheduled for Baltimore a week later.