Ken Borland

Excitement and confidence is what scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse will bring to the Sharks team when he returns to United Rugby Championship action on Saturday against Glasgow Warriors at Kings Park.

Hendrikse enjoyed a wonderful Rugby Championship campaign with the Springboks, mixing it creditably with the Aaron Smiths and Nic Whites of the world, and being heavily involved in some of the team’s best results.

“Last season’s quarterfinal was my last game for the Sharks, so I’m super-excited to get back on the park with them,” Hendrikse said on Wednesday.

“Basically for me it will just be about enjoying every moment. For those of us coming back from the Boks, we just want to fit in as smoothly as possible with the Sharks’ DNA, how they play, and contribute as much as we can.

“From the Rugby Championship, I learnt just to be accurate in everything I do and do my job. There’s a lot of pressure, but if you put in your work, do your detail, then you eliminate that.

“I just want to execute my role on Saturday and play how Jaden plays,” Hendrikse said.

A physical scrumhalf, Hendrikse knows he will have to have a pretty big motor on defence on Saturday, because Glasgow Warriors like to move the ball around quickly.

“The Warriors matched the Bulls physically last weekend, they disrupted their set-piece and lineout, attacked them at the breakdown,” Hendrikse said.

“We are focused on ourselves, and we have to pitch up and play our way, but we do analyse what they will bring to the game and I’ve watched three of their games.

“They have a good transition on attack, a high line and they wait for you to make a mistake and then counter-attack. On attack they play very deep, they want you to come up and then they play short options.

‘They have a good attack and it will be a good challenge. We need to tighten up on our soft moments and our discipline let us down last weekend against Leinster. Our kicking game needs to be more accurate too,” Hendrikse said.

The next Springbok squad will be named in October for the end-of-year tour and here are four players who knocked the door down during the Rugby Championship and must be included in the group for the Tests against Ireland, France, Italy and England.

Jasper Wiese

The Leicester Tigers loose forward turns 27 in October and is clearly entering his prime, knocking over opponents on the gain-line and just being constantly busy in terms of work-rate. While it remains to be seen whether he will depose Duane Vermeulen at the World Cup next year, the great eighthman has some bouncing back to do after his injury problems, although he made an encouraging cameo off the bench at Kings Park this weekend. At the moment, Wiese is certainly bringing the fire though and is a real thorn in the opposition’s flesh.

Jaden Hendrikse

A series of polished displays means young Hendrikse surely now owns the No.9 jersey. Despite his tender 22 years, he has taken on the key tactical kicking role of the Springboks with aplomb, and has generally been slick and precise with his service, as well as offering some variety on attack. This Rugby Championship has proven he belongs in Test rugby.

Kwagga Smith

The former Springbok Sevens star made a series of crucial contributions at the breakdown through the tournament and, coming off the bench, he has been able to form a great partnership with whoever his other two loose forwards are, showing his experience and versatility. And it’s not just the flashy stuff Smith has been doing, he gets through a lot of ‘dirty work’ too. Most important has been the sheer energy he has brought from the bench, which is exactly what you want from your replacements.

Damian Willemse

The highly-talented 24-year-old will no doubt be in the Springbok squad, but will he be earmarked as a flyhalf, centre or fullback? Hopefully he will play flyhalf because the Springboks will need to sort out this key position post-haste. Handre Pollard will still be around, but has just battled to get the attack firing of late, while surely the time has now come to ditch Elton Jantjies, who is making more headlines off the field than on.

Willemse showed enough when he did play flyhalf in the Rugby Championship to suggest he has great potential there. He has an attacking mindset, is a steely defender and seems confident enough to be the team’s general. He will need to work on his kicking, but that should not be a problem for a player as skilful as he is.

The Hendrikse bros are two of the most exciting young talents in South African rugby, but it was clearly older brother Jaden who got the better of his sibling Jordan as he played a key role in the Sharks beating the Lions 37-10 in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park in Durban at the weekend.

Scrumhalf Jaden produced a sparkling all-round display, running attack slickly with pinpoint passing and excellent vision, while his x-factor was also apparent in some of the more outrageous things that the 22-year-old pulled off. He also kicked brilliantly, both in terms of box-kicks for territory and for attacking purposes.

Brother Jordan, two years younger, just lacked the same spark and Sharks coach Sean Everitt said his team winning the kicking-for-territory battle was crucial to their handsome victory.

“We knew if we could get into a kicking duel with the Lions then we could come out on top,” Everitt said after the win. “Obviously conditions suited that sort of game as well, it was very difficult out there.

“Jaden played well last week as well and he is starting to reach the form he was in when he played for South Africa last year. He and Curwin Bosch managed the game very well.

“We wanted to try and put pressure on the Lions, and with Anthony Volmink at fullback, we had a three-pointed kicking plan which worked extremely well. I think there were only three times we played more than three phases in our own half,” Everitt said.

The victory lifted the Sharks into sixth place on the URC log and, with just three games remaining, the playoffs beckon for the KwaZulu-Natalians. But those three matches are against top sides Leinster, Connacht and a particularly tough trip to Ulster in their last fixture.

Everitt said he is confident though that everything is coming together nicely for his team to finish strong.

“There are only three games left but there is a lot of rugby to be played. There are also a lot of overseas derbies coming up.

“We have shown glimpses of some really good stuff and we are getting our all-round game right – we’re not conceding many tries, we’re getting our kicking game right and when we get the opportunity to move the ball, we have shown intent.

“So yes, I think this has been the perfect build-up for the final run-in,” Everitt said.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt had a little dig on Thursday at Argentina lock Marcos Kremer for his role in the injury of scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, that led to the call-up of team-mate Grant Williams to the Springbok squad, but fortunately the franchise do have great depth at halfback as the Currie Cup enters its final stages.

Hendrikse was tackled after he had kicked the ball by the replacement lock in the second Rugby Championship Test last weekend, and landed awkwardly, fracturing his ankle. The incident was referred to the TMO, with referee Karl Dickson and the other officials agreeing that Kremer was committed to the tackle and it was not late.

Everitt was annoyed by the tackle though, but at least could take some solace in still being able to name 2021 Springbok squad member Sanele Nohamba and 2018 Springbok tourist Cameron Wright for their Currie Cup match against Western Province in Durban on Saturday.

“I was really disappointed in the way the injury happened to Jaden. I thought it was a cheap shot,” Everitt said. “But it is pleasing to see Grant get recognition after all his months and years of hard work and resilience. He has worked incredibly hard and came through the club system [College Rovers] in Durban.

“Sanele has been with the Springboks as well and has played really well for us in his last two games, while Cameron was really good against the Cheetahs when he started. We are really blessed with our depth at scrumhalf, they have all bought into rotation and the ranking order sometimes changes, which certainly motivates everyone to work hard,” Everitt said on Thursday.

The Sharks are coming off an impressive 56-14 demolition of the Lions at Ellis Park last weekend. Although it all worked out more than okay in the end, some mediocre set-piece work at the start of the match saw them struggle in the opening quarter. Former Western Province lock Gerbrandt Grobler, who debuted for the Sharks last weekend and looked good to go for the rest of the year, is the only member of the tight five who retains their starting position for Saturday.

“We’ve rotated the front row, we’ve not really had much consistency in that department and we know Western Province have a formidable front row so we will try to negate that strength. Emile van Heerden is still working through the concussion return-to-play protocols and it’s great to have Le Roux Roets back after he had played so well.

“Gerbrandt gets the opportunity for more game-time and we would like him to really hit his straps in the coming weeks. He had not played for quite a long time since returning from France, but that cover-tackle he made on Wandisile Simelane on the Highveld at 2pm will live long in the memory. He’s an experienced campaigner and clearly a competitor. He’s made a great mark with us already,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Curwin Bosch, Yaw Penxe, Werner Kok, Murray Koster, Thaakir Abrahams, Lionel Cronje, Sanele Nohamba, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Henco Venter, James Venter, Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets, Khutha Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench – Dan Jooste, Khwezi Mona, Lourens Adriaanse, Reniel Hugo, Thembelani Bholi, Cameron Wright, Marius Louw, Anthony Volmink.