Cornal Hendricks remains in the back Boland minds ahead of Currie Cup journey

The Boland Cavaliers have been through a lot over the last few months following the shock passing of Springboks back Cornal Hendricks right before the business end of the SA Cup.

Hendricks died a couple of days before their SA Cup semi-final against the Pumas. Boland played that match with a lot of heart, but just couldn’t pick themselves up emotionally to get the job done after such terrible news.

But the real job was essentially done a couple of weeks before that when they beat Eastern Province to qualify for the Currie Cup Premier Division for the first time in almost a decade.

Despite not playing anymore because of health concerns, Hendricks was still a big part of the team who brought top-flight rugby back to Wellington. It’s something his coach Hawies Fourie doesn’t take for granted as they take their first steps back into the Currie Cup’s top division later this month.

“Cornal is always in the back of our minds. Sometimes at training or in the meetings I still look for his face, and I get that shock that he is not with us anymore,” Fourie told Independent Media.

“But his legacy will live on. He had a great impact on Boland rugby and someone to look up to and someone who the players can aspire to.”

Fourie has been busy over the last seven weeks, as Boland basically has a second pre-season to prepare for the Currie Cup.

Their first preseason started almost a year ago as they prepared for the SA Cup. Now there has been a two-month break between the competitions, which means they almost had to start from scratch.

“Luckily this pre-season wasn’t as long as it was for the SA Cup. We started preparing for that in August last year. That was seven months, while this one is just six to seven weeks,” Fourie said.

“We have some games in between to get some minutes before the Currie Cup starts. It was a good pre-season, but we struggled a bit with flu, because every now and then we had five or six guys out that couldn’t train.”

Boland also bolstered their side ahead of the Currie Cup, with centre David Brits, utility back Juan Mostert, hooker Llewellyn Claassen, prop Laurence Victor, rookie wing Renaldo Young, Blitzbok Donovan Don and veteran scrumhalf Louis Schreuder.

Schreuder is back where his rugby started, after stints with the Stormers and overseas clubs such as Bath.

“That was one of the main reasons why I contacted Louis, for his experience. I wanted him and the late Cornal Hendricks to lead the back in terms of that experience,” Fourie said.

“Louis has made contributions already this week. We have a lot of competition at scrumhalf, so hopefully they will sort each other out in the friendlies.

“When I contract players, I always try to get players who grew up here and who played their junior rugby here.”

Young, a talented fast and fleet-footed wing, comes from the club structures. Fourie hopes these gems will bring the club rugby supporters back to supporting the provincial side.

“The club rugby is big and well-supported, the bread and butter of all of these towns. The clubs are better supported than Boland and we would like to change that and get them behind us in the Currie Cup,” Fourie said.

“The Top 12 last year was an eye opener with all the support. The quality of rugby can still improve, but the semi-finals and final was of a good standard.

“Renaldo Young played for Roses last year and came through out club system and high performance program and got a professional contract.”