Emirates Lions flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse is just 21 years old, but already he has experienced more as a player than many of his more aged teammates.
Gifted as a schoolboy talent, Hendrikse scaled every height in schoolboy rugby, quickly made the transition to the South African national youth teams and was winning South Africa international tournaments as an 18-year-old.
Hendrikse in 2021 was already playing against the British & Irish Lions before his 21st birthday, on the backfoot as a No 10 against some of the best players in the world, but looking like he had been playing professionally for 10 years.
His Lions took a beating against the impressive tourists, but Hendrikse was all class in a performance that spoke to his performance as much as it did his maturity.
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Hendrikse wanted to translate his form into the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and make an early statement to the national selectors. Then injury struck and he spent a good portion of the first half of the tournament on the sidelines.
It was his first major setback as a rugby player, but the 21-year-old sought positives from the break and vowed to return stronger and better for the experience. It was also an immediate reminder at how quickly it can all end.
Hendrikse, whose brother Jaden plays scrumhalf for the Cell C Sharks and has been capped for the Springboks, experienced a similar injury with the Springboks. Both brothers, in their infancy as professional players, have experienced the highs of playing against the famed British & Irish Lions and the lows of serious injury in the space of a few months.
But both Hendrikse brothers returned stronger and more committed to the game they have chosen as a profession.
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Jordan admitted in interviews that there was internal doubt during his injury on whether he would return as confident as he had always been on a rugby field. Injury does that to any player.
What came a couple of days after the interview was Hendrikse delivering the calmest and cleanest kicking display to inspire the Lions and turn a 21-10 deficit into a 23-21 win against Irish powerhouse Munster.
Hendrikse’s performance against Munster was indicative of his aspirations for the season and also his search for consistency in performance.
“Being consistent, week in week out, especially after coming back from injury. That’s the focus,” said Hendrikse. “And then getting better every game, that’s all you want as a player: to make fewer mistakes and improve on your personal game. This positively affects your team too.”
Hendrikse made that statement in the week of the Lions win against Munster when he kicked the winning points.
“Mentally I was in a great space before the injury, and you get knocked very quickly from flying high to riding low,” said Hendrikse. “I thought, will I be the same Jordan or will I be better?”
The answer, against Munster and in every Vodacom URC match since, is that Hendrikse is very much the same talented player, but mentally even stronger than the flamboyant kid who was kicking 60-metre penalties at altitude in his rookie professional year.
The Lions, who play the Dragons in Wales on Saturday, have not qualified for the URC play-offs, but Hendrikse knows that each tournament performance is another opportunity to make another statement to the Springboks selectors, which means there is no such thing as a ‘nothing’ match for this young playmaker.
