Jaden Hendrikse: Fit, but not playing! What’s happening?
Earlier this year, scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse suffered a serious shoulder injury that ruled him out of the Rugby Championship. Now, with just one more game to go – against Argentina this Saturday – before the Springboks unveil their World Cup squad, many have begun to wonder where Jaden Hendrikse stands. READ | Why Springboks opted to […]
Earlier this year, scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse suffered a serious shoulder injury that ruled him out of the Rugby Championship.
Now, with just one more game to go – against Argentina this Saturday – before the Springboks unveil their World Cup squad, many have begun to wonder where Jaden Hendrikse stands.
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The Springbok coaches have sought to evenly divide game time around the squad as much as possible, but despite the fact that Jaden Hendrikse has overcome his injury, he has still not been selected this weekend.
The Springboks do have plenty of options at 9, with Faf de Klerk, Grant Williams and Cobus Reinach all very much in the running for the World Cup, while Herschel Jantjies – who is on the bench this weekend – is likely to just miss out.
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SO WHERE DOES JADEN HENDRIKSE STAND?
Here is what Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said after this week’s team selection.
“There is nothing wrong with Jaden. He is fit and ready to go. The thing around him, he would’ve played if it wasn’t for the unfortunate family tragedy that happened.
“The plan we had about who is going to play where and when was explained to the squad, but we said there might have to be adjustments for injuries or loss of form. It was plotted out way in advance.
“It’s a little bit easier for us to make a decision on Jaden because we know him and know what he can do. We’ve seen him in training. We know what he did for us last year – his first big game was against the All Blacks at Mbombela when Faf [de Klerk] got concussed. With little Test experience, he helped the pack and drove them forward to get a good result.
“We know what we have in him. There’s nothing you must read into it. It was just unfortunate. We wanted to give Cobus [Reinach] another go this weekend and we wanted to give Herschel [Jantjies] a go. It is Hersch’s first opportunity this year. Jaden would’ve got an opportunity earlier, but he is just unfortunate due to circumstances.”
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HOW THE TEAM WILL LINE UP
Springboks – 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Ande Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Bongi Mbonambi (c), 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Subs: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Jean-Luc du Preez, 20 Evan Roos, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel, 23 Kurt-Lee Arendse
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