While the Springboks may have trouble fitting five top scrumhalves into three spots, Jaden Hendrikse seems to be almost destined to take his place at the Rugby World Cup when the team is named next week.
Hendrikse is the only scrumhalf who hasn’t been given a start in this year’s test matches, prompting fears that he was still struggling from a shoulder injury. Veteran Cobus Reinach was named as starting scrumhalf while Herschel Jantjies gets his first game of the international season off the bench.
But coach Jacques Nienaber killed that thought with a single blow, declaring Hendrikse “fit and ready” to play if needed.
Still, the fact that Hendrikse hasn’t played since 1 April when he was injured for the Sharks and subsequently underwent shoulder injury has got to be a concern?
The Boks don’t see it that way, and Hendrikse is likely to feature in one of the two remaining warm-up games against Wales or New Zealand before the Boks start their defence of the World Cup they won in Japan in 2019.
Nienaber made it clear that Hendrikse’s family tragedy - his father passed away just before the start of the international season - was the only reason he wasn’t playing.
“The thing around Jaden is he probably would have played if it wasn't for the unfortunate family tragedy that happened with his father," Nienaber said in naming his side to face Argentina in Buenos Aires.
"The plan and how we'd plotted things out in terms of who's going to play where and when was explained to the squad when we started our preparations. We said there might be adjustments for injuries or if there's a loss of form or stuff like that.”
Nienaber said Hendrikse’s performance last season, where he moved ahead of stalwart Faf de Klerk had a lot to do with their decision around him.
"It's a little bit easier for us to make a decision on Jaden because we know him, we know what he can do, we see him at training and we know what he did for us last year. Faf got concussed and his first big game was against the All Blacks in Mbombela, and he was a nine with very little test experience but helped drive the pack forward to get a good result against New Zealand.
"So we know what we have in Jaden, there's nothing to read into that. He was just unfortunate, and we wanted to give Cobus another go this weekend and also wanted to give Herschel a go - this game is Herschel's first opportunity.
"Jaden would probably have got an opportunity a bit earlier but due to tragic circumstances out of our control it just happened that way."
The Boks are likely to only take three scrumhalves in their squad of 33 to France when it is named next week. While De Klerk and Hendrikse look certain, Grant Williams did seem to have the inside track before he was concussed in the opening 11 seconds of last weekend’s match. Reinach and Jantjies have a lot to play for this weekend in Buenos Aires.
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