Hendricks back after four years in the wilderness

Former Springbok winger Cornal Hendricks will finally make his official comeback to Vodacom Super Rugby this weekend when he gets the chance to start for the Vodacom Bulls against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires on Saturday night.

Hendricks is the one change to the Bulls team from their 40-3 win over the DHL Stormers last weekend, replacing Johnny Kotze, who went down with meningitis and will be out for a fortnight.

“Johnny has meningitis, he is out for two weeks. It’s unfortunate but it is fortunate for Cornal, and he is looking forward to his first game in Super Rugby in a while. He is very hungry and I’m looking forward to seeing him,” coach Pote Human said in announcing the team.

Hendricks’ journey back from four years on the sidelines will bring him full circle after being diagnosed in 2015 with a heart ailment and missing out on the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Since then there have been countless fights until finally a diagnosis said he was cleared to play and the Bulls offered him a contract.

Come this weekend and they will be hoping the faith they’ve had in his abilities will be paid back in South America.

In the end it was his experience that clinched the spot ahead of some fierce rivalry for him.

“He played on Saturday in the warm-up game against Naka Bulle. We gave him a chance and on the field is the only place he will get sharper. There are guys who are unlucky – guys like Divan Rossouw and Jade Stighling who are also knocking hard on the door, but we decided to go with Cornal, he has played in Buenos Aires before and his experience will be crucial for us.

“He will bank on his experience from previous years, from four years ago, but he is hungry and positive about it. When I told him about it he was very excited and said I won’t let you down, so I’m excited for him.”

The Bulls expect a backlash from the Jaguares, especially after they lost to the Lions in their opening game last weekend and can ill afford another home loss in the competition.

“It’s going to be tough, we know the Jaguares in Buenos Aires, they are a good team, especially if the crowd gets behind them and they come with their passion. I think we played the right game plan against the Stormers and if we can continue on that, we can do well. What worries me is that in the first six minutes we gave four penalties and that kept the Stormers in the game in those first 10 minutes but after that we played well.”

Human added Andre Warner and Johan Grobbelaar to the travelling squad to provide cover at scrumhalf and hooker during the trip respectively.

“We had a good start, no doubt. Luckily everyone realises that we need to start all over again this week. The Jaquares will not be happy after losing at home last weekend and will be determined to get their first win. We need to be accurate and focussed. If we are, we will be able to put pressure on them,” Human said.

Captain Lood de Jager said momentum and self-belief will aid their effort.

“We played like we trained and executed our game plan. The fact that it brought the right result was a boost for us. If we keep on doing the important things right, we can be a hard team to beat, we saw that last weekend. So we know what to do when we go to Argentina.”

Vodacom Bulls (with caps and points) is: Warrick Gelant (35, 60), Cornal Hendricks (27, 55), Jesse Kriel (62, 80), Burger Odendaal (44, 15), Rosko Specman (1, 10), Handré Pollard (47, 457), Embrose Papier (11, 5), Duane Vermeulen (110, 40), Hanro Liebenberg (29, 15), Ruan Steenkamp (12, 0), Lood de Jager (c; 61, 25), Jason Jenkins (41, 35), Trevor Nyakane (92, 15), Schalk Brits (64, 20), Lizo Gqoboka (38, 10).

Replacements: Corniel Els (1, 0), Simphiwe Matanzima (1, 0), Dayan van der Westhuizen (11, 0), Eli Snyman (1, 0), Thembelani Bholi (31, 5), Ivan van Zyl (18, 0), Manie Libbok (9, 13), Dylan Sage (1, 0), with travelling cover: Andre Warner (13, 15) and Johan Grobbelaar (1, 0)