Jacques Nienaber has shed further light on why the game-shy Lood de Jager and Jaden Hendrikse were left out of the Springboks’ matchday-23 to face Argentina on Saturday.
De Jager and Hendrikse were the two notable absentees when Nienaber announced the matchday-23 to tackle Los Pumas in Buenos Aires in a World Cup warm-up.
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World Cup-winning lock De Jager was replaced early in the second half against the All Blacks in Auckland and has just those 43 minutes of Test rugby under his belt for the Boks this year.
Instead, Marvin Orie retains the No 5 jersey and will resume his lock partnership with Jean Kleyn, the same second row that face the Wallabies in Pretoria.
“That’s why Marvin came with, in case something like this happened,” Nienaber said. “Lood last played against New Zealand so it would’ve been nice to give him a go.
“Unfortunately, he is sick. He isn’t injured, just sick. So medically, we feel it’s a bit of a risk. That’s why Marvin is starting.”
Meanwhile, Hendrikse has yet to see any Test time in 2023, owing partly to a shoulder injury suffered while in action for the Sharks and partly to the tragic death of his father.
The 23-year-old returned to the Bok camp in the build-up to the Ellis Park Test and travelled to Buenos Aires, but will not be able to get onto the field before the World Cup squad announcement on 8 August.
“There is nothing wrong with Jaden. He is fit and ready to go. The thing around him, he would’ve played if it wasn’t for the unfortunate family tragedy that happened.
“The plan we had about who is going to play where and when was explained to the squad, but we said there might have to be adjustments for injuries or loss of form. It was plotted out way in advance.
“It’s a little bit easier for us to make a decision on Jaden because we know him and know what he can do. We’ve seen him in training. We know what he did for us last year – his first big game was against the All Blacks at Mbombela when Faf [de Klerk] got concussed. With little Test experience, he helped the pack and drove them forward to get a good result.
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“We know what we have in him. There’s nothing you must read into it. It was just unfortunate. We wanted to give Cobus [Reinach] another go this weekend and we wanted to give Herschel [Jantjies] a go. It is Hersch’s first opportunity this year. Jaden would’ve got an opportunity earlier, but he is just unfortunate due to circumstances.”
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