The Sharks will be without the influential Ethan Hooker for the rest of their URC campaign following a shoulder injury.
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A benefit of a rugby writing career as lengthy as mine — it is easier to measure in decades rather than years — is that you get to see it all. A few times.
Let me explain. Watching the Sharks lose to the Ospreys in circumstances that were as much of their own making as they were by the Welshmen redefining the expression “by hook or by crook”, my memory went into search mode.
Where had I seen a late tackle on a player after he had scored a try? Where had I seen a team suddenly — and dubiously — run out of props and have to “resort” to uncontested scrums? Too many times, and a few of them involved South African teams playing each other, so this is not a Welsh thing.
In the first instance, I will use a Natal example, seeing as Ethan Hooker is a Shark. In 1990, the match-turning moment in the Currie Cup final between Natal and Northern Transvaal was Tony Watson shrugging off Theo van Rensburg to scorch down the touchline and score the most famous try in “Sharks” history.
As Watson scored, Northern Transvaal centre Jannie Claassens arrived after a fruitless chase and probably thought, “What the hell? I’ve run all this way, I’m going to tackle him anyway.” He did, and put an elbow into Watson's back for good measure.
Referee Freek Burger did the right thing. He awarded Natal a penalty on the centre spot. Joel Stransky slotted the kick and the nine-point surge (today it would be 10) ultimately won the Durbanites the Currie Cup.
No such luck for the Sharks of 2026 when Luke Morgan thudded into Hooker after he had scored a try on the stroke of half-time. It is incomprehensible that the match officials ruled that no indiscretion had taken place.
They neither picked up that it was late nor that Morgan did not use his arms in a wrap. Hooker will miss an estimated three to four months of rugby because of a dislocated shoulder. Morgan should have been suspended for the same period.
That might have been justice after the match, but it wouldn’t have helped the Sharks during their fight for their URC lives. The fact is that arguably their best attacking threat was recklessly removed by Morgan.
The second area of contention at the Swansea Stadium was the move to uncontested scrums. This was after the Sharks had brought on double World Cup winners Ox Nche and Vincent Koch. Coach JP Pietersen’s tactic was to ensure a strong finish to the game. Immediately, the Sharks’ scrum sprung forward, with penalties and a maul try ensuing. The Sharks were poised to close the game out when, all of a sudden, the Ospreys had no more props…
It is my opinion that this was a ruse to defuse the Sharks’ scrumming threat. I have no proof, of course, but I am allowed an opinion.
If there are fans who think a professional rugby team would not resort to cheating, let me give you a fact-is-stranger-than-fiction example.
In 2009, in a close-fought Champions Cup quarter-final between Leinster and Harlequins, the latter team wanted to get their best kicker, Nick Evans, back onto the field (he had gone off injured).
A capsule containing blood was spirited onto the field to wing Tom Williams. Almost hilariously, the TV cameras caught him taking the capsule from his sock and putting it into his mouth. Back in the changing room, knowing they had been busted, one of the medical team cut Williams’ mouth with a scalpel to give him a genuine blood injury.
It all came out at a hearing, and a bunch of Harlequins personnel were suspended for a long time.
By comparison, telling a prop to go off “injured” is small fry. Do not believe these things don’t happen.
As for the Sharks’ contributing to their own demise this season, my pen will address that in an imminent column.