Pietersen doubts legitimacy of injuries after uncontested scrums cost Sharks

Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse in action during a scrum against Ospreys. Picture: Gruffydd Thomas/Gallo Images Sharks coach JP Pietersen lamented how the scrum battle was taken away from the Sharks during the final quarter of their 21-17 defeat to Ospreys in Swansea on Saturday, even questioning whether the injuries to the Ospreys front row players were legitimate. The match was crucial forthe Durban union, who now slip one spot to 11th on the URC table.

They now have only a slim mathematical chance of reaching the playoffs with three league-phase games left to play. The Ospreys in fact dominated the set-piece battle in the first half andwon several scrum penalties. But once Springboks Ox Nché and Vincent Koch went on for the Sharks in the 54th minute, everything changed.

They won scrum penalties and scrum turnovers every time they stepped up. Yet when props Gareth Thomas, Tom Botha and lastly Garyn Phillips all left the field, referee Mike Adamson ruled that scrums would be uncontested as Ospreys were down to 14 men. Pietersen questioned the authenticity of Phillips’ injury.

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“In the second half, we got more dominance through the scrums,” he said. “We had an unbelievable three scrums, dominated them and scrummed them off the ball. That was good to see, and when we were five meters out from the line, we scrummed them off the ball.

“We only got a 5m scrum back, and their prop got injured. To be honest, that is the question mark. We don’t know, did he get injured, or were Ospreys taking the contest away from us?” He said they were confident they would have secured another scrum penalty, which would have changed the game with the scoreline 21-12 to the Ospreys at the time. “We don’t know for sure, and I can’t talk on behalf of Ospreys, but it certainly took the contest away from the game.” The Sharks coach also lamented Springbok wingEthan Hooker’sshoulder injury, sustained when an Ospreys defender dived onto him after he had scored a try.

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