Sharks shameless gamesmanship enrages Munster in penalty shootout

Telegraph

3 days ago

Rugby union's history of penalty shoot-outs is short and littered with shellshocked kickers, but this one between Sharks and Munster deserves to be remembered for the near-unbelievable gamesmanship from scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse.
Not content with slotting his two allotted kicks, the South African nine also went down with what was suggested was a bout of cramp, right on the spot where opponent Jack Crowley was set to take his own kick, and followed this up with a wink at the Irish ten.
Tensions were already high. After the United Rugby Championship quarter-final between the two sides ended 24-24 after extra time, it led to a shoot-out, with each team taking two kicks from three positions - in front of the posts, to the right, and then on the left. The same players would take their kicks from the same spot each time, meaning that Hendrikse and Crowley would meet up in front of the posts twice.
After scoring the first time with the first kick of the shootout, Hendrikse had his first chirp at Crowley. After he scored his own kick, he had a word again. But the competition moved on.
Hendrikse's brother Jordan, a fly-half, nailed his first kick on the right, before Rory Scannell dragged his own effort wide.
On the left Bradley Davids of the Sharks clipped his own effort over, before Munster legend Conor Murray dispatched his own effort. Making it 3-2 as Jaden Hendrikse lined up another shot. But after nailing it to go 4-2 up, he went down, loudly exclaiming. The Munster players could not believe what they were seeing, with veteran Murray having a word with referee Mike Admason. Cue the wink, and a bit more rolling.
You could hardly blame Crowley for shouting 'F— off!'. Jordan Hendrikse hit his second kick to make it 5-3, and Scannell made amends, but after David hit his second kick it was all over and Sharks were off - to the URC semi-finals.
Munster had taken the lead nine minutes into the first half when Crowley's cross-field kick bounced up for Calvin Nash who dived over. Crowley scored the conversion, but the match was scrappy, with Crowley and Jaden Hendrikse wayward from the tee.
Ethan Hooker did score a jinking try, with Jaden Hendrikse converting and then scoring a penalty.
Fineen Wycherley worked his way over for a score as did Diarmuid Kilgallen, with Crowley converting both. But Sharks staged a comeback with two tries in the final 15 minutes, and Hendrikse added the extras.
A Murray penalty from long-range made it 24-24 and extra time came and went, scoreless, after Hendrikse had a drop goal attempt blocked by Thomas Ahern.
The sport's most famous shootout, of course, came in May 2009, when Cardiff Blues and Leicester Tigers decided the Heineken Cup semi-final with kicks. Then, it was a rotation of the whole team, no selected kickers, and it famously came down to a heartbreaking miss from Martyn Williams and a cool kick from Tigers' Jordan Crane.
This one will go down in the annals for very different reasons.