Hollywoodbets Sharks coach John Plumtree is hoping the injury picked up by skipper Eben Etzebeth during their side’s 29-10 United Rugby Championship (URC) win over Ospreys on Friday is nothing too serious.
Playing at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, the hosts scored four tries to clinch a spot in the top four with just one round of round robin action to play. After clearly getting injured in the first half, and then trying to soldier on, Etzebeth ultimately had to leave the field on a golf cart and was later seen on the sidelines using crutches.
With the quarterfinals getting underway on the weekend of 30 May, Plumtree must now wait on the results of Etzebeth’s scan before the severity of the injury can be determined.
“Hopefully Eben’s not too bad,” said the Kiwi boss. “I’m hoping it’s just a hematoma that might come right even before the weekend. He’s a quick healer, old Eben, but if not, hopefully it’s nothing more sinister. He’ll get a scan.”
The Springbok record cap holder has already missed most of the season due to a combination of concussion, injury and illness, and his absence in the knockouts will be a huge blow to the side’s title chances.
On a brighter note, the Sharks can’t finish lower than fourth, and Plumtree is optimistic about potentially finishing even higher by the end of next week’s final round. As things stand, they’ve accumulated 58-log points, the same as the Bulls (third), with second-placed Glasgow Warriors on 59.
“Obviously, Glasgow have got to play Benetton away and then they play Leinster away, so they’ve got a couple of big battles ahead of them. And if we catch them, it might come down to games won or lost, or points for or against, so who knows? We want to keep pushing.”
On the nature of Friday’s display, Plumtree was pleased his charges could get the job done against a wily Ospreys outfit.
“It was a workmanlike performance, really. I was just saying now how wet the pitch was, so the boys found the ball quite dewy, and that took away a really attractive game of rugby from both sides.
“It became a kick battle, set piece battle, [with] the mindset of keeping the ball in front of the forwards and our defence, so I thought we were pretty good in that space.
“We highlighted [Ospreys’ breakdown threat] during the week with a couple of their players, one [Jac Morgan] being a British & Irish Lion.
“But I was happy with our defence. We had to grind it out.”
