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Schoolboy superstar's transition into giant hooker nearing completion

Jan-Hendrik Wessels of Vodacom Bulls takes on Kieran Marmion of Bristol Bears during the Investec Champions Cup match between Bristol Bears and Vodacom Bulls at Ashton Gate on January 13, 2024 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

The evolution of Jan-Hendrik Wessels has been unconventional, to say the least. The 22-year-old – who featured at lock, loose forward and in the front row at school – is now being groomed as the next ‘hooker project’ at the Bulls.

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Born in Bloemfontein and schooled at Grey College, he was a superstar in age-group rugby.

Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White even once compared him to the two-time World Cup-winning Springbok prop Os du Randt.

However, Wessels – at 1.90 metres and 120 kilograms – is now getting most of his game time in the No.2 jersey and being compared to Bok great Malcolm Marx.

Wessels has played 169 minutes of the Bulls’ 180 minutes in this year’s Champions Cup campaign.

He played 12 minutes in the 27-16 Round One win over Saracens, played 80 minutes in the 28-29 Round Two loss to Lyon Olympique and 77 minutes in last week’s Round Three win (31-17) over Bristol Bears.

Wessels will also start when the Bulls host Bordeaux Bègles in a Champions Cup crunch match in Pretoria on Saturday.

Jake White
Vodacom Bulls head coach Jake White before the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Vodacom Bulls at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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He made 91 metres from 18 carries in Europe this season, with one clean break and statistics also reflect that he has beaten two defenders.

The rookie hooker has made 25 tackles, at a success rate of 81 percent – with two turnovers.

Some of his core skills, such as line-out throwing, do need work. Last week in Bristol the Bulls won less than 90 percent of their line-outs.

However, that is not of concern to the Bulls boss, who pointed out that Marx also struggled with his core skills when he first came on the scene.

“I am confident he [Wessels] will get it right,” White said.

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Fixture
Investec Champions Cup
Bulls
46 - 40
Full-time
Bordeaux
All Stats and Data

“There is a hooker called Malcolm Marx, who lost a Test for South Africa against New Zealand and lost a couple of games for the Lions during his ‘learning’ process.

“Now Malcolm Marx is one of the best players in the world,” White said of the 64-times capped Bok stalwart. “That is the school fees you have to pay,” the Bulls boss said about his rookie No.2.

“The only way he is going to learn is by playing in a big game and throwing the ball in on the tryline.

“I am happy to keep pushing him, because when he gets it right, he has all the attributes to be a great player.

“He knows he has to work hard on that. I am comfortable, the more he gets into those situations, the better he will become.”

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Brendan 303 days ago

A grade South African stock

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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