Ospreys wing Luke Morgan has defended his actions on social media but the rights and wrongs of the incident that injured Hollywoodbets Sharks and Springbok wing Ethan Hooker in their Vodacom URC clash in Bridgend at the weekend look set to be decided by a citing committee.
Morgan dived on Hooker after he’d scored a try on the stroke of halftime, leaving the Sharks player in visible discomfort as he felt his shoulder. Hooker left the field and didn’t return for the second half, with the Sharks later confirming that Hooker had suffered a dislocated shoulder.
Depending on the severity of the dislocation, he could be out for between two to three months, and his season with the Sharks definitely looks over. He could also be in doubt for the start of the Springbok international season.
Sharks coach JP Pietersen lamented the loss of Hooker, who might have made a difference to the result had he been on the field in the second half of what eventually became a 21-17 loss for the Durbanites.
A former Bok wing himself, Pietersen pointed out that the laws were in place to protect the players, clearly implying that he thought Morgan’s action was illegal - which certainly looked to be the case on the television viewing.
It’s a long time ago now, but it was an incident similar to one that happened when the Sharks, who were then Natal, famously won the Currie Cup for the first time by beating Northern Transvaal (the Bulls) 18-12 in the 1990 Loftus final. After the Natal wing Tony Watson dotted down the ball for what turned out to be the winning try, he was dived on by Northerns centre Jannie Claassen.
The upshot of that incident more than 35 years ago was that the referee Freek Burger penalised the Bulls by awarding Natal a penalty on the halfway line. Joel Stransky kicked it over to put the Bulls out of the equation as potential winners, as there were just a few minutes left and in those days a try was worth four points and a conversion two, and Stransky’s kick put the visitors six points ahead.
NO PENALTY OR OTHER SANCTION ON THE PLAYER SEEMED STRANGE
Many would have been expecting something similar after watching Morgan dive recklessly on Hooker, even the Welsh commentators appeared to think the Ospreys wing was going to be in hot water, but somehow the referee Mike Adamson and the TMO let the incident pass without what appeared so much as a conversation.
Morgan, responding to a suggestion on social media (instagram) that “falling on a player afer he was clearly going to score is pure filth”, defended himself by saying “He (Hooker) clearly hasn’t scored until the ball is grounded, therefore because the ball wasn’t grounded it means it was in play and I am fully legal to make the tackle so you might want to think about that one”.
The optics weren’t good though and Morgan’s actions did look both reckless and dangerous to these eyes and those of other commentators so, as the old saying goes, it is good that Morgan will have his day in court. Sharks sources have confirmed that the team management currently on tour overseas has approached the citing commissioner to look into the incident.
Ethan Hooker goes coast-to-coast 😤🦈
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) April 18, 2026
📺 Stream #VURC on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/SsEY1zbOVW
Apparently Morgan later deleted his comment but, given how easily the book is thrown these days at players for infringements that are the product of at worst a bit of clumsiness when it comes to tackle height, and often just pure accident, it will be interesting to see how a URC disciplinary committee views something which arguably had some malicious intent behind it. And left a player injured.
Hooker arrived back in Durban on Monday and was due to undergo scans on Tuesday to determine the severity of the damage and his expected recovery period.
While the TMO checked the legitimacy of Hooker’s try regarding a potential knock-on at the start of what was a 90-metre run, the officials held no discussions over Morgan’s armless challenge on Hooker.