For a few seasons he was driving the hopes of the Emirates Lions in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and other competitions, but this season Jordan Hendrikse has been cast as one of the chief tormentors of his old team.
Back in the colours of the region where he went to school, the Hollywoodbets Sharks, Hendrikse was the man who denied his old team their much sought after slice of Carling Currie Cup glory back in September. `The Lions topped the log and were winning the Johannesburg final when the hooter sounded, but when the Sharks were presented with a chance to win with a long range penalty, Hendrikse kicked from well inside his own half.
It was a stupendous kick given the pressure that was heaped on him and the stage of the game. It wasn’t a kick many other teams would have kicked at posts, but the Sharks and Hendrikse did and the upshot was that they were able to steal the domestic trophy from under the noses of their opponents.
Now the Lions have an arguably even more important mission - they need to beat the Sharks in a clutch URC game at Emirates Airlines Park on Saturday or they will sustain a significant dent to their chances of finishing in the top eight and going through to the playoffs and securing Investec Champions Cup qualification for the first time.
The Lions have tended to win the URC games against their coastal rivals, but that Currie Cup win coupled with a sequence of triumphs up the road from Johannesburg at Loftus, has suffused the Sharks with the confidence that has Hendrikse treating the trip to altitude as just another day at the office for his new team.
“For us we took a lot of confidence out of the last Loftus game. It is never easy to go to the highveld and get a win there but we backed ourselves and managed to come through,” said Hendrikse in a break in the preparations for Saturday afternoon’s visit to his old home ground.
“In the Currie Cup we played and beat the Bulls up there and also of course we beat the Lions in the final. So we take that confidence into the game this coming weekend.”
Of course he has inside knowledge of the Lions approach when they face coastal teams on the highveld but inside knowledge shouldn’t really be necessary to predict what the Lions will aim to do in a game that will kick off in mid-afternoon in the height of summer.
“We are expecting a fast tempo game, they will try and run us off our feet. For us it will be all about managing the game and trying to get a bit of control and making the best out of every scoring opportunity that comes our way. What’s most important is that we get the result, because we are definitely looking at the South African conference.”
With the Bulls and Stormers playing their final derbies when they clash in Pretoria in the later kick-off on Saturday, the Sharks know they will put themselves on the cusp of clinching the conference title if they get across the line as winners. The Stormers, who will start as underdogs at Loftus, are their nearest challengers currently, with their two defeats to the Durbanites having hurt the Bulls’ chances of clinching the secondary URC trophy that they annexed off the Stormers last year.
A year ago Hendrikse was sweating over the Lions’ chances of making the top eight, something they were denied when they lost their final league game in Cape Town, but his offseason switch in allegiance has turned him into a passionate Shark.
“I am blessed to be back here. It is always warm here in Durban and it is always good to be training in the warmth,” he said.
“It is nice to be back playing with my brother (fellow Bok Jaden) and the chance to do that played a big part in my decision to come back, as did the coaches,” added the Glenwood old boy.
The Sharks team will be announced later in the week and it will be interesting to see if Hendrikse moves back to flyhalf or continues at fullback as a stop gap measure in the absence of the injured duo of Aphelele Fassi and Hakeem Kunene.