DURBAN - Jaden Hendrikse, the villain of the piece for the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld against the Lions on Saturday night is deeply regretful for his rash action that torpedoed his team’s chance of a first-ever victory over the British and Irish Lions.
In a return encounter with the tourists, the Sharks had played out of their socks to be level at half time (26-26) but five minutes into the second half, scrumhalf Hendrikse ruined what had been a very good performance by him when he elbowed Lions fullback Liam Williams in the head is a post-tackle scuffle.
English referee Wayne Barnes red-carded him and the loss of a player was a mortal blow to the Sharks as the Lions played wisely to exploit their numerical advantage, stretching play across the field to find the gap and running in seven tries as the game blew out into a 71-31 annihilation.
🟥 Early shower for Jaden Hendriske
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The Sharks will have to play the second half a man down after the TMO catches the scrumhalf throwing an elbow on Liam Williams.
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Sharks coach Sean Everitt said Hendrikse had behaved out of character.
“He is very remorseful. Nobody wants to get a red card against an international team and put your team under pressure. It’s a learning experience for him and I am sure it won’t happen again in the future,” Everitt said.
“Jaden is not a malicious character and we haven’t seen something like this from him before in the many games he has played at various levels,” Everitt said. “Unfortunately, there was a bit of niggle in the game and he did something that he regrets. He’s a youngster, he is only 21, and I think his emotions got the better of him and he will learn from that.
“Off the field, funnily enough, he is totally the opposite. He is quiet and doesn’t say much. Shame, I do feel for him.
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“When you are a youngster coming through, you are no different to the other scrumhalves that are chirpy. But, yes, he has to know when to draw the line. He will learn from this incident and it’s obviously our job as coaches to develop these young men as gentlemen to have respect for the opposition and match officials. We will have a chat with him.”
Everitt admitted, though, that the loss of a defender for 35 minutes put the Sharks on the back foot.
“The red card didn't do anything to help us. We knew they were going to come out firing (for the second half) and they reverted to a different game when we were one man short,” Everitt said.
“They went coast-to-coast and beat us on the outside with the extra man.”
@MikeGreenaway67
IOL Sport