No disciplinary action planned for Sharks 'gamesmanship', says URC chief
Ian Costello's side lost out in a place-kicking shootout after the teams finished level, 24-24, following 100 minutes of rugby in Durban.
However, controversy arose during the shootout with Jack Crowley and Jaden Hendrikse exchanging words, with the Sharks scrum-half also appearing to wink at the Munster out-half.
Hendrickse had also fallen down with cramp after his second kick, forcing a delay in Crowley's second shot at goal.
Conor Murray also became involved the altercation when multiple members of the Sharks backroom team came on to treat the Springboks back.
BKT United Rugby Championship chief executive Martin Anayi spoke to reporters on Wednesday morning and said that the situation "hasn't been flagged on a disciplinary level".
He did admit that the incident helped viewership numbers with highlights reaching 390,000 views on their YouTube channel.
"There is pretty tight regulation about staff so I think if there was somebody on the pitch who shouldn't have been that will get flagged," he told RTÉ Sport.
"From it being something that has spiked viewership, quite honestly, it has.
"That game has the most viewed highlights on YouTube we've ever had.
"It shows the level of intrigue and interest in the game, spiked by, I guess, gamesmanship.
"There's a thin line between that being a positive and a negative.
"It's a difficult one, I've listened to a lot of podcasts over the last couple of days talking about it.
"Ultimately, we want characters in the sport and when you have characters and when you encourage people to show their character, that can be positive and negative.
"There are heroes and villains in all great sporting stories
"I think that kind of what is emerging here, isn't it.
"Whether that turns to disciplinary [action], I just haven't seen anything like that but needless to say, it certainly spiked an interest in the league.
"In the rivalry between Ireland and South Africa, which is really bubbling along, I guess it's another chapter in that story."
Anayi added that the place-kicking shootout, called "whatever you call that c**p" by Munster captain Tadhg Beirne, was the best way to decide a winner when the teams are tied and have scored the same number of tries.
"There really is very little other way to get the winner in the timeframe, which is obviously what we need for the following week," he said.
"It showed drama, intrigue and got a lot of people talking. Which is not a bad thing."
Sharks play Bulls in Saturday's second semi-final with the winners playing either Leinster in Croke Park or Glasgow Warriors in South Africa on 14 June.
Meanwhile, Anayi said he hadn't any more details than have been made public about the proposed R360 breakaway league, which would be similar to the LIV golf and Indian Premier League cricket tournaments.
Organisers, led by former England centre Mike Tindall, of the project want to create both a men's and women's superclub competition, playing over 16 weeks in two blocks between April and June, and August and September, outside of international windows.
"You try to do it physically, you try to do it with your mouth...a lot of things, rubbing guys' hair, faces in the ground." - Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber on Sharks-Munster gamesmanship #RTERugby #RTESport pic.twitter.com/l0lpLRdH00
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 2, 2025
They want to take the best 360 players in the world and double their pay.
The games would take place between the franchises in different cities around the world.
"I probably know as much as you guys know, quite honestly," said Anayi.
"What we do is just focus on ourselves. We've got big games.
"We get 80,000 at Croke Park for Leinster-Munster, so to have big events like that, we encourage those games, we're in big cities.
"We're about community as well.
"We are about being part of an ecosystem that we care deeply about, that has grassroots at one end and international rugby at another.
"We play a really important part in that pyramid. We just focus on making URC as good as possible and that's all we can control."
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