Cape Town — Cornal Hendricks’ last Test try for the Springboks was a fine effort.
It was in 2014 against the All Blacks in Wellington, when Hendricks — who was the starting right wing — was fed a lovely inside pass by Handre Pollard, and he proceeded to slice his way through the Kiwi defence for a memorable touchdown.
The then-Cheetahs star played three more Tests — against Ireland and Wales in November 2014, and then the All Blacks in Johannesburg in 2015 — for a grand total of 12, but then wasn’t seen on a rugby field for a number of years.
A heart problem led to him missing out on the Boks’ 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign, as well as a move to the Stormers.
In fact, despite getting a clearance to play from other medical specialists, Hendricks was virtually persona non grata in the rugby world — until the Bulls gave him a contract in 2019.
And even though he turned in several outstanding performances for the Pretoria side, he was not yet eligible for Springbok selection as SA Rugby’s medical team had not given the go-ahead.
That was the case until 10 days ago, and it led to his inclusion in the SA A squad on Friday for the end-of-year tour games against Munster (November 10) and Bristol (November 17).
It’s not quite the Test arena yet, but who knows… If he excels in those encounters, he could push for a Bok spot against Italy and England.
“A lot of people sometimes say why are you not picking this or that guy? A guy like Madosh Tambwe and those guys… Some guys don’t qualify — and it’s not us who just don’t pick those guys. There are a lot of guys who people name out there and who we see are playing well… Even the Tshituka (Vincent and Emmanuel) brothers — until they qualify for us, we can absolutely do nothing about that,” national director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said on Friday.
“We couldn’t pick Cornal. From our side at SA Rugby, we didn’t get the green light that medically, we could pick him. But that has been sorted out through hard work himself, and the Bulls helped us, and the legal and medical teams. It has really been a process.
“A year ago, we said we are working on that and we are trying to make him eligible to play, and it has been sorted out – I think it was 10 days ago, that we can actually select him again.”
SA A head coach Mzwandile Stick was also delighted to call on Hendricks to help guide a number of youngsters, which include Lions centre Henco van Wyk and Stormers speedster Suleiman Hartzenberg.
“Every time we discuss the squad, his name is always mentioned. If you look at the past year or two, he has been playing well for the Bulls, and it was also nice for us as coaches to get the green light to select him for SA A. With his experience, we know what he can do, and covering 12, 13 and outside backs,” Stick said.
“There are a lot of youngsters in the SA A squad that are exciting, but you need some stability around that — people who have been there. If the conditions don’t allow us to play running rugby, we need people to keep things together and direct the team, and we know Cornal has done that for the Bulls.”
Bulls coach Jake White added on Friday that Hendricks can also help Johan Goosen to find his form again for SA A.
“I’m chuffed for him. There is an example of a guy who’s had to stick it out… And credit to SA Rugby too, let’s be fair. They needed to get the paperwork done, got the paperwork done,” White said.
“Part of their fear was that they couldn’t risk it unless there was an amicable agreement — and there is now. And now, credit to SA Rugby: they’ve now picked him.
“He probably feels relieved that he’s done his bit, and they’ve negotiated whatever they needed to negotiate — I don’t know the details, but at least there’s a win for both of them.
“What’s quite nice is literally the next tour, he gets a crack. It’s great for him, and he goes with a guy like (Johan) Goosen as well. I’m sure two senior guys like them will be good for both of them,” White said.
“I told Goosen today that he is not in the starting line-up (Bok Test squad) for the national team, but that he was going to have Cornal there — and he was obviously excited.
“I’m hoping that the two of them will help each other play well as well for the national set-up.”
IOL Sport