Durban - The are very close off the field and played together in the first team at Glenwood High, but Jaden and Jordan Hendrikse will be fierce rivals when they take the field at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
Jaden will be at scrumhalf for the Sharks and Jordan at flyhalf for the visiting Lions in this United Rugby Championship encounter and given their positions they will be virtually opposite each other, but they will reserve the brotherly love for the post-match festivities.
After school in Durban, Jaden went straight to the Sharks where he was a key part of the Sharks Under-19 team that went unbeaten under Sean Everitt, and when Everitt was promoted to coach the senior team, Hendrikse came with him.
Jaden has subsequently gone on to play two matches for the Springboks, scoring a try on debut against Argentina last year but then broke his ankle in the return match against the Pumas.
The 20-year-old Jordan, two years younger than Jaden, went to the Lions from Glenwood and has featured for the Junior Springboks.
Everitt was asked yesterday if Jaden had revealed a few insights into his brother’s play,
“No, Jaden doesn’t talk about his brother at all,” the coach sad. “They have played against each other on several occasions and it is always interesting to see how they go. Jaden is very quiet off the field in how he conducts himself but is a very different animal on the field. They are both extremely competitive players and nothing will stand in the way of them going at each other on Saturday.”
With the two being in key game management positions for their teams, they will be in the thick of the action especially given that the weather reports say there is a 100% chance of heavy rain in Durban this afternoon.
“We had an unfortunate result against Edinburgh in the rain but we dominated the game in every aspect but did not get the win,” Everitt continued.
The Sharks rebounded to rout a poor Dragons team last week but they know not to get carried away.
“We understand where the Dragons are on the log (second bottom) but they were a stronger team than they put out against the Bulls the week before, and to put 50 on a team you really have to play well.”
The big focus for the Sharks after the loss to Edinburgh was to sharpen up on their finishing, and they got that right against the Dragons.
TEAMS FOR DURBAN
Sharks: 15 Anthony Volmink, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Tapuai, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Gerbrandt Grobler, 3 Thomas du Toit (c), 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Bench: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Khuta Mchunu, 19 Le Roux Roets, 20 Jeandre Labuschagne, 21 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Boeta Chamberlain.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Manuel Rass, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Francke Horn, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (c), 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Sti Sithole.
Bench: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Sibusiso Sangweni, 20 Jason Cairns, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Henco van Wyk, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel.
IOL Sport