Cardiff lodge compliant after scrum-half’s ‘nasty injury’ against Lions
Cardiff Rugby boss Matt Sherratt.
Head coach Matt Sherratt has confirmed that Cardiff have lodged a complaint with the URC against the Lions after an injury to scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou.
The Argentine international was forced off the pitch in the opening 20 minutes of the URC clash at Ellis Park last week and is now facing surgery for what Sherratt has described as a “nasty injury”.
Bertranou’s unavailability means that fly-half Tinus de Beer will provide cover scrum-half for Ellis Bevan in the Welsh side’s clash against Sharks this week.
The Cardiff boss says that the club have complained to URC as they believe that the injury had been caused by a deliberate strike to the face by a Lions’ tackler.
Gonzalo Bertranou’s injury
However, the URC have responded saying that there had not been a “clear and obvious” error from the officials.
“He’s fractured either his eye socket or cheekbone,” Sherratt said when asked about the scrum-half’s availability.
“I don’t usually say this but I wasn’t very happy with the action that led to the injury.
“It looked like a swinging arm [and] we’ve gone through the right channels with it.
“It was never going to be clear and obvious but I was gutted for him because it was a nasty injury.”
He added: “It’s a nasty injury. It might not be a long one. Cam Winnett had something similar, as did Antoine Dupont in the World Cup, so hopefully, he can play some part in our season. Gonzalo’s having surgery today I think so hopefully that goes well for him.”
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Bertranou suffered a facial fracture from the incident and was initially removed from the field to undertake an HIA but did not return.
Cardiff went on to lose the clash against the Lions with a late flurry from the hosts seeing them cross twice to secure a 34-13 bonus point victory to keep their slim hopes of a play-off spot alive.
This week, they tackle the Sharks with both sides out of the running for the knockout stages of the URC.
Cardiff could move ahead of the Sharks on the overall log with the hosts set to send many of their front-line players over to London ahead of schedule for their Challenge Cup final against Gloucester.