Legendary Springboks lock Victor Matfield has likened Sharks scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse to his former locking partner Bakkies Botha.
Hendrikse has stolen the headlines this week after his antics during the penalty shootout of the United Rugby Championship (URC) quarter-final against Munster, after he dove to the ground with a cramp following his successful second attempt.
The Bok number nine, while receiving treatment, then winked at Munster fly-half Jack Crowley with the broadcaster brilliantly capturing the moment.
His actions have caused a real stir with many suggesting that he feigned the injury, with accusations of cheating and gamesmanship quickly following suit.
Hendrikse putting Crowley under pressure
However, Matfield feels that it was all simply part of the game and pointed to examples of legendary players who have done the same, particularly captains.
“Knowing Jaden, he probably thought he can put a little bit more pressure on the kicker, he did cramp definitely but he probably could have walked five metres further and then got it rubbed out,” he remarked on the Rivals podcast.
“In those pressure situations, the longer you have to wait, the longer you have to think about it, the harder it probably gets, so probably a little bit of gamesmanship and then the little wink to say ‘Take your time calm down, you will have the kick’.
“If you look at the past, some of the best captains Sean Fitzpatrick, George Gregan, and John Smit, all had that little bit of gamesmanship where they tried to influence the match and put more pressure maybe on the ref or the other team and sometimes they get away with it.
“Sometimes the ref will tell them to go back to their team and just be the captain and not try to be the ref but that’s part of the game and that’s what makes the game interesting.”
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World Rugby’s moral decisions
All Blacks great Sir John Kirwan was also on the show and raised concerns about the growing trend of players diving and feigning injuries in order to force the officials’ hands.
He believes that World Rugby needs to make some decisions about what is gamesmanship and what is outright cheating, as the threat of players diving continues to grow.
“For me, I’m seeing a lot more of it in the game so what what I believe needs to happen is we need to understand whether World Rugby is actually going to do something about gamesmanship,” he stated.
“I’m seeing it a lot more when someone gets cleaned out in a ruck and they might hit the head and instead of falling backwards they fall back and throw their arms and you a little bit of exaggeration as they try to milk a penalty.
“So, I think World Rugby needs to make some decisions on whether it is actually a real case or not a real case, otherwise, we’re going to see more of it and we’re going to end up like football. It is one thing that would annoy us, and I love football don’t get me wrong, would be the faking the rolling around trying to get a penalty.
“We now need to understand that gamesmanship and where it sits in our game and what’s acceptable, I believe if someone throws a fake and you go back and the TMO goes ‘That guy threw a fake’, then should be penalised rather or should the penalty be turned around?
“Otherwise, as the competition and the tournaments become more important, and there is more money then we’re going to see more of it and I just think we need to make some moral decisions on whether we want it in our game or not.”
Zoning in on what occurred in Durban in the URC play-off match, he added: “I’m pretty relaxed about the gamesmanship [in the Sharks-Munster game], I’m pretty sure he [Hendrikse] had a cramp and Rassie sent that photo of him cramping, the gamesmanship was winking you know and where he went down.
“So unless World Rugby makes some decisions, it’ll just keep growing and be part of our game.”
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Hendrikse like Bakkies Botha
Matfield agreed with the former All Blacks winger but is wary that if World Rugby were to step in, it could take away from the characters in the game.
He also suggested that coaches are coaching players to milk head contacts in games to get a decision particularly because of how strict the laws are.
“I also hate diving these days and all players get coached that whenever you carry the ball and there’s head contact you need to go down you need to lie because that brings it to the attention of the TMO to go have a look,” Matfield explained.
“I hate it as well, but what you don’t want to do and that’s the difference between diving and gamesmanship and trying to influence the flow of the game or influence the referee, is you don’t want to take the characters out of the game.
“George Gregan was a character because of how he was on the field, Sean Fitzpatrick from New Zealand did the same thing as a captain, he just had a certain way on the field where with whatever he did he influenced the game.
“Bakkies Botha was the same, maybe a little bit dirty but I mean he could influence stuff on the edge by trying to get away with it so I still think we need the character and Jaden is one of those guys.
“If you know him off the field he doesn’t say a word, but once he gets on the field he’s the most irritating guy you’ll ever play against.
“He tries to get under the skin of other players, he tries to influence them and put them under pressure, so I’m not sure if we want to take those characters out of the game. Yes, we don’t want diving and we don’t want to become like soccer where everyone falls over when he just gets touched and unfortunately, with the new laws all of them are starting to get there but that gamesmanship and those characters that you see on the field, I would still like to see them on the field.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/victor-matfield-likens-most-irritating-jaden-hendrikse-to-bakkies-botha-as-all-blacks-great-believes-world-rugby-has-moral-decisions-to-make
