In an incident during the Sharks’ most recent URC game, which has made headlines in various rugby circles, Sharks and Springbok star Ethan Hooker dislocated his shoulder when Ospreys winger Luke Morgan dived on him after he’d just scored an important try.
The talented Springbok is now set to be sidelined for between three to four months, and it has led to many questions about how often these sorts of incidents occur when last-ditch defenders dangerously land on opponents who can be in especially vulnerable positions as they’re diving over the tryline.
After the game, Sharks coach JP Pietersen openly questioned the action from Morgan that led to the injury at a crucial time in the game, stating that “the rules say you are not supposed to dive on a player and rules are there to protect players and sadly that did not happen”.
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Particularly on social media, numerous South African rugby fans have shared their outrage about the manner in which this injury was caused, and Morgan himself responded to some of the accusations.
On user commented on his Instagram, stating: “You should be banned for as long as Ethan Hooker is out. Scumbag.”
To which Morgan responded: “And you should go bore someone else with a silly little comment like that.”
Another social media user also commented: “Falling on a player after he was clearly going to score is pure filth. Intended to hurt and succeed. Congrats.”
Morgan then replied with a subsequently deleted post, stating: “He clearly hasn’t scored until the ball is grounded, there for [therefore] because the ball wasn’t grounded means the ball is still in play and I am fully legal to make that tackle so you might want to think again about that one.”
