Springboks greats Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger have paid wonderful tributes to Cornal Hendricks, who passed away last week aged 37.
De Villiers also looked to quell any suggestion that rugby played a part in the former South Africa and Bulls star’s death.
Hendricks died on Wednesday, May 14 due to a heart attack, a decade after he was diagnosed with a serious heart condition.
The wing was told he would never play again, but he defied the odds to make his comeback with the Bulls in 2019 and would remain at the Pretoria outfit until 2024.
Both Burger and De Villiers knew Hendricks well having played alongside him during their careers.
‘That sense of humour, that laugh’
“I played with Cornal in 2014/15 with the Boks and we all thought he was done with the heart condition, but then he came back and the Bulls gave him a second chance at his career,” Burger said on the Boks Office podcast.
“He was exceptional for the Bulls but I think the standout feature and what I remember most about him is his energy in the changing room. It was that sense of humour, it was that laugh – that was the standout feature.
“On top of that, when he moved to centre for the Bulls just after Covid and how successful he was there, in a very successful team, was the cherry on top for his rugby career.”
Hendricks was an outstanding player who earned 12 caps for the Springboks, but he was also a very popular member of the changing room.
“It’s just so sad to see him go so young. A phenomenal human being and I think the impact that he leaves on the world, not just the way that he played rugby but he was a really positive human being,” De Villiers said.
“He impacted people’s lives. When he had the heart condition, rugby was his passion and rugby was his platform to be able to create change, and he came back to rugby because that’s where he wanted to make a difference.
“You just see the way that his team-mates talk about him.
“When I got the news, it was terrible. Not a single person I have met has got anything bad to say about him, it’s all positive and it’s about the positive effect that he had.”
‘Rugby was his passion, his love’
Bulls chief executive Edgar Rathbone stated in the aftermath of Hendricks’ death that playing rugby did not make his condition worse and De Villiers also felt the need to dismiss any spurious theories.
“There were a lot of questions that were immediately asked about his heart condition etc, but he came back to rugby because that’s his passion, that’s his love, and that was the platform for him to really just be happy,” the ex-Springboks captain said.
“I think there will be people wanting to blame rugby in a way for this but it’s nothing like that. It was a beautiful life and we’re just lucky that we could just share some of it with him.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/jean-de-villiers-rugby-is-not-to-blame-for-cornal-hendricks-death-it-was-a-beautiful-life
