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Springboks explain the latest non-selection of Jaden Hendrikse
By Rugby365
The name Jaden Hendrikse is almost certain to appear on the team sheet when Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber announces his Rugby World Cup squad next week Tuesday.
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Hendrikse is one of a few players that have not featured in The Rugby Championship and won’t play in the warm-up match against Argentina in Buenos Aires this coming Saturday.
The others – like captain Siya Kolisi and fly-half Handre Pollard – are still busy with their rehabilitation programmes and are likely to get a run in the warm-up matches later this month against Wales and New Zealand.
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However, the situation for Hendrikse is different. He is fit but won’t play this week. Having been through a vigorous rehabilitation programme following shoulder surgery, it means he has not played since April 1.
The situation was further complicated when the father of the Hendrikse brothers, Jaden and Jordan, passed away in late June – meaning he lost out on the opportunity to feature in the early rounds of the Rugby Championship.
Hendrikse, first-choice Faf de Klerk, Grant Williams, Cobus Reinach and Herschel Jantjies are competing for what is presumed will be three (or four) scrum-half berths.
“Jaden would have played, was it not for the unfortunate family tragedy,” Nienaber said of the untimely death of Brian Hendrikse on June 29.
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However, the plan of which players will feature in which of the games – the three Rugby Championship games and this coming Saturday’s World Cup warm-up outing – was put in place and revealed to the players when the squad first got together back in April.
“We told them there might be adjustments,” Nienaber said, adding: “It was plotted way in advance.” The coach said it is easier for the management to decide on the 23-year-old, 12-cap Springbok.
“We know him. We know what he can do. We see him at training. We know what he did for us last year.”
Nienaber pointed to the Rugby Championship Test in Nelspruit in August last year when he replaced de Klerk (who left the field with a concussion) in the opening minute and played a key role in the Springboks’ 26-10 triumph.
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“He was a No9 – with very little Test experience [four previous caps] – that could help drive the pack forward. We know what is in Jaden. There is nothing you can read into that,” he said of Hendrikse’s current lack of game time.
“We wanted to give Cobus another go this weekend and we also wanted to give Herschel a go. The first opportunity for Herschel is in this game (against Argentina in Buenos Aires).
“Jaden would have had his opportunities earlier (in the season). Due to very tragic circumstances, out of our control, he didn’t get his chance. Don’t read anything into it.”
Hooker Bongi Mbonambi will skipper the national team for the first time on Saturday. The team shows 13 changes to the starting line-up, while the bench includes uncapped prop Gerhard Steenekamp.
Mbonambi – who will earn his 60th Test cap – takes over the captain’s responsibilities in the absence of the regular captain Kolisi, who is making encouraging progress following knee surgery, and stand-in captains Eben Etzebeth and Duane Vermeulen, who remained in South Africa with a group of players in a conditioning camp.
