Eben Etzebeth was on crutches after being carried from the field on a golf cart following a first-half knee injury in the 29-10 win over the Ospreys but Hollywoodbets Sharks coach John Plumtree was hopeful afterwards that the Springbok’s condition isn’t as bad as it looked.
The Sharks captain’s departure from the field during the penultimate Vodacom United Rugby Championship league game would have sent shivers of concern through not only Sharks supports but also Springbok supporters.
It certainly looked like a potentially serious injury, but it was a positive that initially Etzebeth seemed confident enough to try and pay through the injury before eventually succumbing to the inevitable and being helped from the field.
“Hopefully, Eben’s not too bad. I’m hoping it’s just a hematoma (a bruise inducing a dead leg feeling) that might come right even before next weekend. He’s a quick healer, Eben, but we’ll know more after he gets a scan. You could see he was just trying to push through it but it was too sore. I spoke to him at halftime and he felt a bit better.”
Plumtree described his team’s performance the way most match reports would have described it, workmanlike, but he was a lot more enthused about what his team produced in Friday night’s match than he was after the close win over Ulster in Belfast two weeks ago.
The game struggled to really get going, with the Ospreys strong in the tackle and also combative at forward but just too slow in recycling the ball, while the Sharks’ attempts to put phases together was hampered by the dew that rendered the field and ball slippery.
“I was just saying how wet the pitch was. The boys found the ball quite dewy and that sort of took away a real attractive game of rugby from both sides. It became a kick battle and a set-piece battle, and a mindset of keeping the ball in front of the forwards and obviously our defence. I was really happy with our defence.
“We knew (Ospreys captain) Jac Morgan was going to be a threat at the breakdown and he showed why he’s going on the British and Irish Lions tour. It got a bit patchy with our scrums but once we settled down, we were better.
“We had a lot of powerful running tonight from our loose forwards and tight five, a guy like Jason Jenkins really stood up. I thought we were pretty clinical when we got into the 22 with the work we do with our pack.”
The Sharks were severely disrupted at forward to the extent that in the second half, following an injury to Emmanuel Tshituka, star inside centre Andre Esterhuizen was pressed into service as a flank.
The Sharks’ win took them level with the Vodacom Bulls on points (58) in third place but the Bulls have a game later on Saturday against Cardiff still to play.
So do Glasgow Warriors, who go to Benetton now desperately needing to win to make sure they don’t potentially drop to fourth, which could happen if they lose to both Benetton and then Leinster next week and the Sharks win their remaining game against Scarlets in Durban next Saturday.
If the Sharks do lift from fourth to third, or even potentially second if the Bulls fluff their lines in one of their remaining fixtures, it will enable them to avoid a tricky derby quarterfinal against the DHL Stormers and possibly set up a repeat of last year’s Stormers quarterfinal against Glasgow at the Scotstoun.
The Stormers play the Dragons in Cape Town on Saturday evening and the Bulls face Cardiff in Pretoria in the game before that. The Emirates Lions, who saw their chances of a top eight finish lengthened by Munster’s win over Ulster on Friday night, round of the weekend by hosting Scarlets in Johannesburg.