Springboks offer selections hints, Hendrikse set for return

Earlier this year, scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse suffered a serious shoulder injury that ruled him out of the Springboks‘ Rugby Championship campaign, but he still managed to earn selection into the 33-man World Cup squad.

It’s now expected that the Sharks star will feature against Wales at the Principality Stadium this Saturday, with this game set to kick off at 4.15pm (SA time).

The Springboks will take on Wales before then heading to Twickenham to take on the All Blacks.

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This past weekend, Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber suggested that after managed squad rotation in the past four matches – to give as many players as possible a chance to put up their hand for World Cup selection – the plan in their next few weeks was to start building team continuity.

“A guy like Jaden (Hendrikse) has not had game time yet, and it would be nice to give him some time on the field,” said Nienaber. “But there’ll be less chopping and changing, and we’ll try to build more combinations.”

Captain Siya Kolisi echoed his sentiments: “We certainly want to win and start building player combinations. We’ve used 38 players in the last four matches, so I’m not sure what the coaches’ thinking is, but with the Rugby World Cup ahead, we’ll start trying to build combinations and momentum.”

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Hendrikse is one of four scrumhalves in the Springboks’ World Cup squad

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