Former South Africa winger Hendricks dies aged 37
Former South Africa international Cornal Hendricks has died aged 37 after suffering a heart attack.Hendricks, who scored five tries in 12 appearances for the Springboks, died on Wednesday.The winger made his Test debut for the Springboks against Wales in 2014, having also played sevens for his country.Hendricks was forced to retire from professional rugby 10 years ago after being diagnosed with a heart condition. However, after receiving a second medical opinion, he returned to action with Pretoria-based Super Rugby side Bulls in 2019. He represented South Africa in rugby sevens between 2011 and 2014, earning selection for the Blitzboks for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens and winning a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.In total, he played 233 first-class matches in a career spanning 17 years.Bulls rugby director Jack White said: "Many people were shocked and sad when his career was cut short in 2015. "When we had the opportunity to get him back on the park, he took that with open arms and made a remarkable use of his second lease in professional rugby."We all witnessed him leave no stone unturned as he inspired his team-mates and the South African community through his story of hope and courage. Rugby has lost one of the good ones."South African rugby president Mark Alexander added: "Cornal was one of those players who loved the game and he worked extremely hard, but he always did so with a smile on his face, treating all people with respect."His energy and love of life, on and off the field, lifted his team-mates and those around him. His contributions to the sport and his unwavering dedication will always be remembered."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Live Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks: Score and latest updates from Premiership semi-final
Latest updates 07 June 2025 3:03pm 3:03PM Ever-present 🦾 The #GallagherPrem Iron Man. Robert du Preez was the only player in the league to play every single minute of the season. An amazing effort from the @SaleSharksRugby 's centre 👏 — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) June 7, 2025 3:00PM Hosts' welcome Prowlin' 🐅 @vocohotels — Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) June 7, 2025 2:57PM Premiership team of the season Four Sale representatives and one from Leicester: Nicky Smith (Leicester Tigers) Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby) Thomas du Toit (Bath Rugby) Maro Itoje (Saracens) Joe Batley (Bristol Bears) Ted Hill (Bath Rugby) Ben Curry (Sale Sharks) Tom Willis (Saracens) Tomos Williams (Gloucester Rugby) George Ford (Sale Sharks) Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol Bears) Benhard Janse van Rensburg (Bristol Bears) Robert du Preez (Sale Sharks) Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks) Santi Carreras (Gloucester Rugby) 2:54PM Sale's secret weapon is their 'theme' for every match Pete Richardson is not as recognisable as George Ford or either of the Curry twins. Even die-hard Sale Sharks supporters are unlikely to have heard of him. Even if the stars align for his club over the coming fortnight, he probably will not receive an official Premiership winners' medal. But the 36-year-old has been a significant, if largely unsung, figure in Sale's route to the play-offs. He refines Alex Sanderson's 'brain farts' by creating a visual for the theme of each game. These have encompassed box-office movies, sporting icons and more original ideas. 2:50PM Michael Cheika speaking to TNT Sports "My desire to win has not changed." Can Michael Cheika lead @LeicesterTigers to glory before he departs in the summer? #GallagherPrem | #LEIvSAL — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) June 7, 2025 2:48PM Full list of award winners Gallagher Player of the Season: Tomos Williams (Gloucester) Breakthrough Player of the Season: Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints) Director of Rugby of the Season: Johann van Graan (Bath) Community Player of the Season: Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears) Gallagher Premiership Rugby Top Try Scorer: Ollie Hassell-Collins (Leicester Tigers) - 13 Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol Bears) - 13 2:41PM Predictions from our experts Leicester Tigers 25 Sale 26 Michael Cheika has sparked a strong response from the Tigers, whose season appeared to be petering out after their loss to Saracens and an insipid performance up in Glasgow in the Champions Cup. Leicester's excellent second half against Sale, with Ollie Chessum immense, secured this home tie. Handré Pollard knows his way around knockout rounds and the Tigers wings, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Adam Radwan, have been brilliant. I just think Sharks can use their recent defeat as a sighter in a ferocious contest that will be shaped at the set-piece and on the gain-line. In my mind, Sale have enough toughness and a touch more subtlety. Which one of our writers think this will be the result today? Find out right here. 2:36PM Teams Leicester starting XV: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Cameron Henderson, 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Olly Cracknell. Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Matt Rogerson, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Izaia Perese. Sale starting XV: 15. Joe Carpenter, Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma'asi-White, 11. Arron Reed, 10. George Ford 9. Raffi Quirke, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4. Ernst van Rhyn, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Tom Curry, 7. Ben Curry (c), 8. JL du Preez. Replacements: 16. Tadgh McElroy, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Dan du Preez, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Luke James, 23. Tom O'Flaherty. 2:30PM A place in the final awaits Welford Road hosts the second of the two Gallagher Premiership semi-finals as Leicester Tigers host Sale Sharks. Just three points separated these sides in the regular season, with Leicester finishing in second to earn this home semi-final despite Sale winning more games (12) than Leicester did (11). These sides met on this ground just a matter of weeks ago. Sale looked in control at half-time, leading 26-16 at the break, but a fightback from Leicester in the second half earned them a 44-34 win, proving pivotal in the race for a home semi-final. Leicester finished the regular season with a 42-20 home win over Newcastle last Saturday. It is going to be an emotional day for Leicester as a couple of club legends play their final home games at Welford Road. Dan Cole and Ben Youngs have announced their retirements at the end of this season. Former England full-back Mike Brown is also retiring, while Julian Montoya and Handre Pollard are moving to pastures new this summer. Their head coach Michael Cheika is also leaving his post but is focused on the task at hand. 'Finishing has nothing to do with it,' Cheika said. 'Being part of a team means what happens to the team is for everybody and not for any one individual. I certainly do not feel like that. When you are in a team, playing in a competition like this, and you are the leader as a coach, your ambition and hunger is to get to the top. The only interest for me is for this team to be successful.' Sale sealed their play-off berth with a 30-26 victory at Exeter last weekend to finish third. They won six of their seven Premiership games to reach the semi-finals, with their only loss coming at Leicester last month. Sale are aiming to reach the final for the second time in three seasons and their director of rugby Alex Sanderson knows his side will have to deliver an 80-minute performance today to book their place in the final next weekend. 'I am expecting a big battle,' Sanderson said. 'They [Leicester] prioritise a lot of the things that we do around physicality and set-piece and we know it is going to be a really tough game in front of a partisan crowd. We have been talking about how we manage our mentality through the ups and downs of the game. 'At this stage of the season it is about being better at the basics and simplifying what we do. The gainline battle and the collisions on both side of the ball are going to be key, as well as the set-piece. When we played a few weeks back we got them in the first half but they beat us up in the second. A 60-minute performance this week will not do, it is going to have to be 80. We have earned the privilege of feeling the pressure at this stage of the season. We know there is nothing after this if we do not get the job done so we are ready.' In the other semi-final last night, Bath beat Bristol 34-20 at The Rec to book their place in the final. Who will be joining Bath in the final at Allianz Stadium next weekend? Kick-off from Welford Road is at 3.30pm.
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Lam motivated to take Bristol on to a future title
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam has insisted he has lost none of the motivation to try to take the Bears to a Premiership final next season, despite watching his side fall short in their semi-final at Bath. The Bears held a slender half-time lead over Bath but conceded four successive tries to fall out of contention as their West Country neighbours booked a place in the Twickenham final next who joined Bristol in 2017 with the club then in the Championship, has taken the Bears to the play-offs three times but not yet to a final."To get to the final was massive for us - we are disappointed but we gave it a really good go and we missed out to a quality team," Lam said. "If you look over the seven years at what we've done and what Bath have done, Bath will always get a lot of credit because they've won titles, Northampton won titles, Saracens have won titles. "I think for us to go to that next level and earn some of that respect we need to win a title, that's the next evolution of this team."I'm really excited by next year and what could happen." Bristol finished fourth in the table, securing their semi-final spot - and their first since 2021 when they topped the league - in the final round of the regular season with a win against Harlequins six days did so with the smallest squad in the Premiership and after missing key players such as fly-half AJ MacGinty and winger Gabriel Ibitoye for large chunks of the Bath they scored a breathtaking try which started metres from their own tryline through Kalaveti Ravouvou and was capped off by James Dun, and showcased plenty more of the quick, slick ball-handling skills that made them one of the top attacking outfits this season, and briefly stopped Bath in their across 80 minutes they could not match their opponents - particularly with the loss of scrum-half Harry Randall on 37 minutes to a shoulder injury and following two yellow cards. Lam, who is under contract until 2028, said they need to develop more of the strength in depth that Bath have to push also pointed to the signings of versatile Scotland and Glasgow back Tom Jordan, winger Max Pepper and second row Pedro Rubiolo as additions that will bolster them in 2025-26."We've just got to keep building that depth below so when we lose key guys they can fill that gap even better," he said."We've still got the smallest squad, we've got 31 players next year, 19 senior academy boys."What we've shown is you don't have to spend to the cap - we've tidied up so much of the whole organisation, I believe we're sitting nicely now off the field and we'll build and when we do get some more funds we've got enough in our cap space to grow from there."
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Leicester Tigers priced at 8/13 to clinch victory in Gallagher Premiership semi-final against Sale Sharks - with visiting underdogs valued at 6/5
It's semi-finals weekend in the Gallagher Premiership and Saturday's clash between Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks promises to be an exciting affair. Leicester have hit form at the right time - having won four in their last five - and will look to make home advantage count as they bid to reach another Premiership final. But Sale Sharks arrive with a point to prove and, under Alex Sanderson, have grown into a side capable of upsetting any opposition on their day. Leicester are priced at 8/13 with Sky Bet to win in front of their home crowd and book a place in Twickenham's showpiece final. But if you fancy an upset, Sale are available at 6/5, offering solid value for a side that has already beaten Leicester once this season. For the optimistic neutral, a draw is priced at 20/1. Rare, but not impossible, in a game where defence could dominate and kicking may decide the outcome. Match Odds – Leicester Tigers vs Sale Sharks Leicester – 8/13 Draw – 20/1
