Skip to main content

Bulls make Malcolm Marx signing official, with Ackermann reunion

The Springbok hooker will join the Pretoria side on a long-term contract from July 2027, after six years in Japanese club rugby.

Follow-up to Malcolm Marx to leave Kubota Spears for South Africa after 2026-27 season

By RuckBee Newsroom1 min read
Two smiling men clasp hands in the foreground, one in a blue Bulls jersey and one in a white shirt, beneath purple jacaranda trees.
AI illustration

The Bulls have officially confirmed the Malcolm Marx signing, bringing the Springbok hooker home on a long-term contract with effect from July 2027. Marx's move is now official.

Marx is the current World Rugby Player of the Year and a two-time Rugby World Cup winner, in 2019 and 2023. The 32-year-old has 94 Test caps and 29 Test tries, the most by any Springbok forward.

He has played his club rugby in Japan for the past six years, first with NTT Shining Arcs, whom he joined in 2020, and then with Kubota Spears.

The move also reunites him with Bulls coach Johan Ackermann. Marx played under Ackermann at the Lions, who reached three consecutive Super Rugby finals in 2016, 2017 and 2018. "He’s one of the hardest workers I coached, someone with great integrity too," Ackermann said.

Marx said: "It is an exciting new chapter for me, and I look forward to reconnecting and working alongside former teammates and coaches."

He is not the Bulls' only recent addition. The club also signed Kwagga Smith and Luan Giliomee.

Sources

All pro rugby stories
A tight huddle of five intense red-jerseyed rugby players, the central man with arms outstretched binding teammates.

Pro Rugby

Romania v Tonga opens Nations Cup round four in Bucharest

Level at three wins each in six meetings since 2013, Romania and Tonga meet in Bucharest with unbeaten Georgia and USA setting the pace in the pools.

A smiling young woman with a ponytail sits at a desk gesturing toward a laptop showing a video call with six smiling women.

Pro Rugby

URC Women's Leadership Academy opens 2027 applications to 30 November

Fifty applicants aged 18–26 from around the world will be chosen, and one will be named the Academy's MVP with work experience at the URC Grand Final.

Ten business people in suits sit and stand around a wooden boardroom table, sliding plain folders across it.

Pro Rugby

Ten agents appointed for Rugby World Cup 2027 hospitality packages

Ten agencies from seven countries were picked from 45 applicants to sell hospitality for the tournament in Australia, which starts on Friday 1 October 2027.