Jordan Hendrikse, 22 years old, starts at flyhalf for the Springboks against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday. For many his inclusion has been a surprise, but for those who have followed his career since school, the only surprise is that the national call-up did not come a year earlier.
Hendrikse, a product of Glenwood High in KwaZulu-Natal, has done it all very well at every youth level. He won titles with the SA under 18s, played for SA Schools, SA under 20s and played for the Emirate Lions against the British & Irish Lions as a 20 year old.
He has played 61 professional matches since his Lions debut in 2021 and scored 458 points, and in 2022 was capped for the Springbok Sevens, where he played four matches.
Hendrikse has the unique distinction of making his Bok Sevens international debut at Twickenham in the last week of May 2022 and two years later, almost to the month, he will make his 15s Test debut at Twickenham, albeit against Wales.
Hendrikse, despite his youthfulness, also spent the best part of a season out of the game because of injury and it was a sobering moment, early on in his career, of just how quickly it can all end.
His recovery will be completed with his Test debut, at a time when his brother Jaden (Hendrikse) is injured. Jaden, a scrumhalf, made his Test debut in 2022 and on Saturday they will become the 37th pairing of brothers to have played for the Springboks.
The brothers, as a halfback pairing, will be reunited at the Sharks next season, but before then they may just have played Test rugby as a halfback combination.
(Jordan) Hendrikse, primarily a flyhalf, showed his versatility for the Lions this season in starting two matches at inside centre and one match at fullback. He has enjoyed a busy season with the Lions, starting in 12 of 22 matches, for 1,087 minutes. In that time he started at flyhalf nine times and played the match 80 minutes on seven occasions.
His goal-kicking return this season has been 74 percent, but it is his physical presence and defensive capabilities that would have inspired his Test selection, given his tackle efficiency in 17 United Rugby Championship appearances was 93 percent. He stands 6ft 1 and weighs 90 kilograms. His size is complemented with a desire to take contact and be physically involved. He is a busy flyhalf, with good distribution skills and one of his strengths is his ability to kick 60-metre penalties and even long line-kicks.
Hendrikse is likely to play between 40 and 60 minutes, with Stormers’ Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu providing impact in closing out the Test.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, even younger by five months to Hendrikse, offers a very different skill set at flyhalf, but like Hendrikse is equally comfortable playing No 10, 12 or 15.
Mngomezulu, a Bishops old boy, was as successful at youth level as Hendrikse, representing SA Schools, SA under 18s and captaining SA under 20. He played in the inaugural URC final, won by the Stormers, before his 21st birthday and last season led Western Province’s under 21s to the provincial title.
The duo’s elevation to Test players confirms the quality of flyhalf available to Erasmus as he builds towards the World Cup in Australia in 2027.
Springbok World Cup winning flyhalves Handré Pollard and Manie Libbok will be the go-to options for the two-Test series against Ireland in July, but the flyhalf cupboard, seemingly bare a few seasons ago, is stacked with Hendrikse, Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Sharks Siya Masuku the next cabs off the rank.
Hendrikse and Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s ascent has been dramatic, but for the other two Bok debutants, winger Edwill van der Merwe and flanker Ben-Jason Dixon, the climb has been more gruelling. Both have done their apprenticeship through consistent season-in-and-season-out performances.
Both were schooled at the most prestigious of Springbok rugby school nurseries, Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch, and both have had to work their way to the front of a queue in areas where the Springboks are particularly blessed, at loose-forward and on the wing.
Van der Merwe, at 28, is the oldest of the four debutantes, but he is certainly no oldie. He was a spectacular finisher as a schoolboy and dominated the Varsity Cup playing for Stellenbosch University (Maties).
The Boks play at 3pm (South African time) on Saturday and three hours later the Bulls host Glasgow Warriors in the URC final where another dynamic loose-forward duo of Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom will want to make another statement to Erasmus.
South African rugby is known for having the sport’s most envied loose-forward conveyor belt, and past World Cup winners and future World Cup winners will combine in London and Pretoria to put on a loose-forward show that is unrivalled.
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