South Africans overseas: Bok stars Marx, De Allende and Kriel light up Japan

Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx was at his best in the Kubota Spears' 54-21 win over the Honda Heat, bagging a brace of tries.

The win secured the Spears' position in third place in Japan's League One standings and a place in the playoffs with two fixtures of the league phase remaining.

Marx's first try came in the 35th minute and in pretty unfamiliar circumstances for the big forward.

After stretching the play down the right wing with a flowing backline move, the Spears switch channels with a long cross-field kick by Atsushi Oshikawa to the Marx, who was hanging out wide and unmarked on the left wing. He received the ball well and rode through the covering tackle to score in the corner.

His second came just after half-time as he received the ball at the back of a maul set up from one of his lineout throws. A number of backline players joined the maul to help them shove the six or seven metres to the line and allow Marx to charge his way over.

The big hooker was only on the park for 54 minutes but managed to make 11 bruising carries in that time, hitting the gainline to keep his side's momentum going forward.

Francois Mostert captained the Heat from the side of the scrum, starting the match as the No 6 flanker.

It was a difficult match for his side, though, and his biggest contribution was on defence with 11 tackles.

Damian de Allende starred in the Saitama Wild Knights' emphatic 57-19 win over the Mitsubishi Dynboars, bagging two tries and gaining over 60 metres with ball-in-hand from 13 carries.

He scored his first try around the half-hour mark after some superb backline play from the Wild Knights allowed them to move the ball across the field from inside their own half.

The Springbok centre was the beneficiary, receiving the last pass in space out wide, allowing him to jog over the line with ease.

His second came five minutes into the second half as the Wild Knights caught the Dynaboars napping with a quick throw-in around the halfway line.

Despite the distance left to the goalline, there were plenty of gaps in the unprepared defence and the Wild Knights were able to move the ball through the hands and find space, which resulted in De Allende again cantering over the line unopposed.

Jesse Kriel captained the Yokohama Canon Eagles to a 50-26 win over the Toshiba Brave Lupus and also scored a brace of tries as South Africans ran rampant in Japan over the weekend.

Kriel scored the opening try of the game for the Canon Eagles around 20 minutes in and it was an important score to get his side back on level terms with the Brave Lupus after their fast start.

The Springbok centre found himself in the perfect position to receive an offload from Kosho Muto after he had made a dummy run through the defence moments earlier.

He still had plenty of work to do after receiving the ball, though, stepping past the fullback before handing off a covering challenge before running under the posts for the score.

His second came just after the halftime break and helped move his side into an even more commanding position.

Following up on a sparkling break from winger Rei Ishioka, which took play from the Canon Eagles 22m deep into the Brave Lupus half, Kriel ran a sharp supporting line, cutting inside to receive the pass in acres of space and running to the line without a challenge.

Faf de Klerk came off the bench for Canon Eagles and played a livewire cameo.

Jasper Wiese started at eighth man and captained the Urayasu D-Rocks in the 49-26 defeat to the Shizuoka Blue Revs.

Wiese led from the front with 16 tackles and 16 lung-busting carries for around 70 metres gained with ball in hand, including two line breaks.

He also scored a try 10 minutes from time as he never gave up the fight. The D-Rocks won a scrum penalty on the Blue Revs five-metre line and the Springbok loose forward noticed the defence napping, so he took a quick tap and dove over the line for a try.

It was a superb performance from Wiese all told but rugby is a team game and he couldn't do it all himself, no matter how much he tried.

Cheslin Kolbe kicked four try conversions for eight points, as well as running for around 100 metres in 14 carries with a crisp offload that led to a try.

However, it wasn't enough to help prevent his side from falling to their fifth straight defeat in the competition as they were beaten 49-28 by the Kobe Steelers.

The result saw Sungoliath drop down to fifth in the standings and in danger of not making the playoffs unless they can turn their form around for the final two matches.

Herchel Jantjies started at scrumhalf in Bayonne's 52-26 loss to Toulon in France's Top 14.

The Springbok hopeful made 67 passes and four tackles, as well as a couple of carries and looked decent on a tough afternoon for his side.

Boan Venter came off the bench for Edinburgh and helped shore up the scrum in their 33-28 win over the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship.

The big prop also cupped in with a couple of carries to gain around 20 metres and made seven tackles.