Etzebeth on crutches but Sharks coach hopeful it's not serious
Rugby
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 supporters, 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 play 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 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.
Stormers power to fifth
The DHL Stormers took another now seemingly inexorable step towards the Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoffs with a comprehensive 48-12 win over the Dragons in their penultimate league match at a wet DHL Stadium on Saturday.
The Stormers ran in seven tries to two and the bonus point ensured that they hit the 50 when it comes to points on the log which means they go into the final league game against Cardiff here next Friday in fifth position.
Had Damian kicked the difficult conversion to Wandisile Simelane’s second try after the hooter, it would have been the second game in succession where the half century mark would have been reached by the Stormers on the scoreboard.
Not that it always looked like turning out quite that one-sided.
The expectation was that the Stormers would run the Dragons, who foot the log by some distance, but weather is always a great leveller and that was the case again in this game as the Stormers took a while to get going before pulling away from their outgunned opponents in the second half.
Actually to say they took a while to get going might not seem completely accurate if you consider that the Stormers scored their first try just after the game had completed its first minute.
That was when a rolled pass off an attacking lineout went through the hands of flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and centre Simelane wrong footed the first line of opposition defenders before going over next to the uprights.
Some might suggest Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked too much but the truth is that his execution was just poor as most of his kicks were too long and therefore allowed the Dragons to field with more comfort than the Stormers would have intended.
– SuperSport
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 supporters, 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 play 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 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.
Stormers power to fifth
The DHL Stormers took another now seemingly inexorable step towards the Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoffs with a comprehensive 48-12 win over the Dragons in their penultimate league match at a wet DHL Stadium on Saturday.
The Stormers ran in seven tries to two and the bonus point ensured that they hit the 50 when it comes to points on the log which means they go into the final league game against Cardiff here next Friday in fifth position.
Had Damian kicked the difficult conversion to Wandisile Simelane’s second try after the hooter, it would have been the second game in succession where the half century mark would have been reached by the Stormers on the scoreboard.
Not that it always looked like turning out quite that one-sided.
The expectation was that the Stormers would run the Dragons, who foot the log by some distance, but weather is always a great leveller and that was the case again in this game as the Stormers took a while to get going before pulling away from their outgunned opponents in the second half.
Actually to say they took a while to get going might not seem completely accurate if you consider that the Stormers scored their first try just after the game had completed its first minute.
That was when a rolled pass off an attacking lineout went through the hands of flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and centre Simelane wrong footed the first line of opposition defenders before going over next to the uprights.
Some might suggest Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked too much but the truth is that his execution was just poor as most of his kicks were too long and therefore allowed the Dragons to field with more comfort than the Stormers would have intended.
– SuperSport
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