Darry Worthington takes a look at five big-name players that have returned to Super Rugby this season.
Cornal Hendricks will run out for the Bulls in Argentina this weekend, with the former Springbok set to put three years of emotional and physical torment behind him when he takes to the Stadio Amalifitanini late on Saturday evening.
While Hendrick’s return to the playing field is obviously the most tear-jerking of all the returns this year, with the Springboks flyer having been forced to retire from the game due to a heart condition some three-and-a-half years ago, he isn’t the only big name international to make a return to Super Rugby with All Black World Cup winners Ma’a Nonu and Stephen Donald as well as the mercurial Aussie Quade Cooper all back on the books of Super Rugby franchises.
We’ll take a look at the five most high-profile player to return to the fold, below.
Quade Cooper
Franchise: Rebels
The enigma that is the hot-stepping Cooper endured a torrid 2018 which saw him relegated to playing club rugby due to Queensland Reds coach Brad Thorn axing the former Reds stalwart from his Super Rugby squad.
The Australian international was subsequently picked up by the Melbourne Rebels, and he certainly hasn’t disappointed since switching allegiances, with the dynamic pivot rolling back the years with a commanding display during the Rebels 27-34 Round 1 away victory over the Brumbies.
While the mercurial back showed some nifty footwork and threw a couple tricky passes, it was his game management that really caught the eye last Friday.
If he can reproduce that sort of mature performance week in and week out during the Super Rugby season, then he may well find himself as Australia’s first choice pivot at the 2019 World Cup.
Ma’a Nonu
Franchise: Blues
It may be early doors in the season but the two-time World Cup winner already looks like he will be one of the key figures in the resurgence of the Blues.
Nonu, having returned from a hit-and-miss three-year salvo with Toulon, has hit the ground running since returning to New Zealand with the physical centre being the stand out player for the Blues during their pre-season.
He backed up his magnificent pre-season showing by putting in a solid shift during the Blues heartbreaking two-point opening round defeat to local rivals, the Crusaders.
The big man may be in his mid-30’s but he’s still a quality player. And while it’s “pie in the sky” sort of stuff at the moment, the veteran could possibly find himself in the running for another World Cup berth should a few of his fellow countrymen, plying their trade in centres, break down with injuries.
Duane Vermeulen
Franchise: Bulls
As regular readers of my pieces may well know, Vermeulen is far from being my favourite player. I’m a man of simple things. I like my beers cold. My rugby entertaining. And my eighth men athletic and in the mould of Gary Teichmann or Warren Whiteley rather than Lawerance Dallagio or Vermeulen. While I do have the old blinkers on, I have to admit that Vermeulen has been pulling up trees since returning to the Springbok fold last year.
Like the aforementioned Nonu, Vermeulen had spent the better part of the past half-decade playing his trade with mega-rich French club Toulon. And like Nonu, the former Western Province stalwart marked his Super Rugby return with a solid Round 1 showing, with the big bruiser battering his former teammates into submission during the Bulls opening 40-3 drubbing of the Stormers.
Schalk Brits
Franchise: Bulls
Like the Blues, the Bulls look to be on the up and up this season and this is mainly due to their shrewd off-season recruitment. While Duane Vermeulen is the man all Bulls fans were excited about, the name getting the most airtime in Pretoria pubs this week will have been Schalk Brits.
The dynamic hooker put in a dazzling display last weekend, which belied his 37 years of age. The veteran was solid at line out time and threw a brilliant pass for Johnny Kotze’s try.
It’s no surprise that Brits marked his return to Super Rugby with such a solid showing. I mean, the man was English champions Saracens most dynamic player for more than four years.
Cornal Hendricks
Franchise: Bulls
The final player we’ll look at is also now a Bulls man with former Blitzbok and Springbok Cornal Hendricks set to return from three years out in the wilderness when he turns out for the Pretoria-based franchise this weekend.
Most rugby fans will know Hendrick’s story, but for those who don’t, here’s a bit of background. The former Cheetahs man was fast becoming a stalwart in the Springbok side during the final few months of Heynecke Meyer’s reign before doctors picked up a life-threatening heart defect that forced the flyer to retire. While he attempted comebacks with the Kings and Toulon, these fell flat.
It’s not like Hendrick’s hasn’t played any rugby over the past three years. Having got himself fully fit again, the winger has been a regular for invitational Sevens sides over the past 18 months.
This really is a feel-good story for South African rugby, and here’s hoping Hendricks has an absolute blinder this weekend.
Written by Darry Worthington for Hollywoodbets
