URC reveal decision on Hooker incident as Ospreys respond to abuse
SPOTLIGHT: Ospreys wing Luke Morgan has been the talk of the week after diving on Sharks, and Springbok wing Ethan Hooker in their 21-17 United Rugby Championship win over the Durbanites.
Morgan’s actions led to Hooker suffering a dislocated shoulder, which left many supporters, especially the South African public, fuming.
Rugby365 has been informed by a source from the URC that the citing officer involved reviewed the incident and found that Morgan’s actions “did not meet the red card threshold.”
The one-cap Wales international felt the heat on his social media platforms, and Ospreys coach Mark Jones came out in defence of his player.
“I’m not online [social media] for that particular reason,” Jones said.
“I don’t like how things can transpire online, so therefore I’m not on it.
“I have heard, and I’ve been sent stuff that he’s had to deal with, as well as his family.
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Jones labelled the abuse as a “disgrace”.
“It’s a disgrace, quite frankly, if people are going to target sportspeople around incidents like that and make it personal over and above what it is, which is an event on the field.
“Morgan is a competitive guy. He’s chasing back as hard as he can for his team in what was a tight game.
“He’s done his absolute upmost to do what we ask players to do, which is not give up until the ball is grounded. Ethan Hooker is a great player.
“Unfortunately, he got injured in that incident. But there’s no malice in that challenge. He’s well within his rights to try and dislodge the ball.
“You see balls getting dislodged over the tryline all the time. I’d argue that if he hadn’t got injured or Luke had dislodged the ball, we’d be saying what an incredible tackle that is and how much effort he put into it.
“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 Morgan is just trying his best to do what he can for his team. There’s absolutely no intent to injure a fellow professional there. Absolutely not.
“You get the ball down as quick as you can because you know someone is chasing you back. That’s what Luke did there. As I say, we’re talking about this because he unfortunately got injured.
“There’s countless examples of players chasing back and dislodging the ball. It’s very, very unfortunate for both players. They shouldn’t be dealing with both scenarios.”
Source: @WalesOnline
