Koch Marx

Marx was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Alberton, where he attended Hoërskool Alberton. In 2012, he was selected to represent the Golden Lions at the premier South African high school rugby union tournament, the Under-18 Craven Week held in Port Elizabeth, starting all three of their matches as the outside centre. He was also selected in a South Africa Schools squad that hosted their counterparts from France, Wales and England in an Under-18 International Series, but failed to feature in any of the matches.[2]

After school, he joined the Golden Lions Academy and was named in the Golden Lions U19 squad that participated in the 2013 Under-19 Provincial Championship.[3] He started all twelve of their matches during the regular season, scoring five tries. These tries came in the home and away matches against both the Leopards U19[4][5] and Western Province U19[6][7] and their final match of the season at home to Border U21,[8] as the Lions finished in second position on the log to qualify for the semi-finals.[9] Marx started their 27–25 victory over Sharks U19 in the semi-final[10] as well as the final, where his side lost 23–35 to trans-Jukskei rivals Blue Bulls U19.[11]

Marx was named in the Golden Lions' squad for the 2014 Vodacom Cup, but didn't appear in any matches for the team. In the latter half of the year, he established himself in the Golden Lions U21 squad that participated in the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship, starting all thirteen of their matches during the competition. It proved to be a very prolific season for Koch as he scored a total of eleven tries, the joint-second most in Group A of the competition.[12] His try-scoring spell started in their second match, when he got two tries in an 82–6 victory over Border U21.[13] After a try in their victory over Blue Bulls U21 in Round Five,[14] he got a hat-trick in a 113–3 win over Border,[15] a single try against Western Province U21[16] and two tries against Free State U21[17] in consecutive matches. He got another in their penultimate match of the season against the Leopards U21s,[18] as his side finished in third position to qualify for the title play-offs.[19] The last of his tries during the competition came in their semi-final match against the Blue Bulls, but it proved futile as the team from Pretoria won 23–19 to eliminate Koch's side from the competition.[20]

At the start of 2015, Marx made five appearances for Wits in the Varsity Shield competition.[21] He scored a try in their match against eventual champions UKZN Impi in a 40–26 victory[21] and scored two tries against TUT Vikings a week later.[22] He helped Wits finish top of the log,[23] but didn't play in the final which UKZN won 29–24.[24] He returned to the Under-21 side for their 2015 season, making ten starts and scoring tries against Blue Bulls U21,[25] Free State U21[26] and Eastern Province U21[27] during the regular season as the Lions secured the final play-off spot by finishing fourth,[28] and scored a try in a semi-final defeat for the second year in a row as Western Province U21 won 43–20 to progress to the final at the Lions' expense.[29]

Marx made his first class debut on 8 April 2016, starting the Golden Lions XV's opening match in the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series, a 23–27 home defeat to the Border Bulldogs.[30] In his second match, against Namibian side the Welwitschias in Windhoek, Marx scored his first senior try in the 32nd minute in a 66–12 victory.[31] Further tries followed in another defeat against a Free State XV,[32] and in victories over a Sharks XV[33] and the Griffons.[34]

In July 2016, Marx was named in the starting line-up for the Lions Super Rugby team for their final match of the regular season against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.[35]