Ospreys boss slams ‘disgraceful’ abuse of Welsh wing and claims ‘no malice’ in Ethan Hooker dogshot
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones and Luke Morgan's hit on Ethan Hooker.
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones has hit out at the South African fans who have sent abuse to Luke Morgan and his family after last weekend’s clash.
The 33-year-old has been at the centre of a storm ever since he injured Sharks powerhouse Ethan Hooker during their United Rugby Championship clash on Saturday.
With the Durban outfit 14-5 in arrears, the wing sprinted almost 80 metres to reduce the deficit but, after touching down, Morgan dived on the Springboks star.
Ethan Hooker’s injury
That resulted in Hooker picking up an injury, with the Sharks confirming that he has dislocated his shoulder and is set for a spell on the sidelines.
The Welshman and his family have since been subjected to online abuse, and Jones condemned those messages.
“I am not online for that particular reason. I don’t like how things can transpire online, so I am not on it,” he told reporters.
“I have heard and I have been sent stuff that he has had to deal with, as well as his family.
“It’s a disgrace if people are going to target sportsmen around incidents like that on a sports field to make it personal over an event on the field.”
Hooker will likely miss the rest of the Sharks’ season and potentially a portion of the Springboks’ Test campaign following, but Jones defended his player, who was not penalised for his cheap shot.
“Luke Morgan is a competitive guy. He’s chasing back as hard as he can for his team in what was a tight game,” he said.
“He’s done his absolute utmost to do what we ask players to do, which is not give up until the ball is grounded.
“Ethan Hooker is a great player and unfortunately he got injured in that incident, but there’s no malice in that challenge.
“It’s really unfortunate that Ethan got injured – he’s a top-quality player and we hope he won’t be out of the game for too long – but Luke was just trying his best to do what he could for his team.”
Morgan’s response and ‘cheating’ accusations
Following the game, Morgan took to Instagram to defend his hit on Hooker, but those have since been deleted and he has made his account private.
“He’s a pretty resilient guy. He’s played professional rugby at the highest level,” Jones said.
“But I can imagine that as resilient as you are, you don’t want to be having to deal with that on behalf of your family; you just want to get on with the sport you love.”
Jones also responded to accusations that they ‘cheated’ in order to negate the Sharks’ scrum superiority.
The visitors very much had the upper hand following the introduction of Springboks Ox Nche and Vincent Koch, but they then became uncontested after the Ospreys lost both of their loosehead props.
“We at the Ospreys pride ourselves on our integrity. We are pretty disappointed if people are suggesting that we didn’t adhere to everything that we should be doing on game day,” he added.
