Siya Kolisi: Let's get over cramp controversy. It's rugby, it's entertainment
SOUTH Africancaptain Siya Kolisi has backed his compatriot Jaden Hendrikse over the cramp controversy which stirred a hornet's noest in the wake of Munster's URC quarter final defeat to the Sharks last Saturday in Durban.
The home side won 6-4 after the game ended in a 24-24 draw but Sharks scrum-half Hendrikse has been criticised for unsportsmanlike behaviour after going down with cramps and while on the ground, winking at Munster ten Jack Crowley as he was getting ready to take his second sudden death penalty.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has already weighed in, as did Leinster assistant coach Jacques Nienaber who made light of the controversy.
'We stand with Jaden,' Kolisi, the Sharks' No. 8 said. 'Jaden is competitive. There has been banter everywhere in the game. We've seen it from players from all over the world. It's normal. These things happen.
'And people can say what they like. It's banter between two players, and that's all it is. And that's what Jaden is. From our side, he knows we're backing him all the way. You can see he was definitely cramping,' Kolisi said.
'I get people saying stuff to me in the game. I don't moan about it. We just carry on, or you react however you want to react. It is what it is. We are supporting him, we stand with Jaden.
'You've seen the ones that happened during the World Cup. And some guys who were on the field there have also done it to other people.
'Let's get over it, it's rugby, it's entertainment. That's what people want. They are going to go see the next game because they think things like this happen. Guys want to celebrate. Let people be themselves.
'We've all got our own ways of dealing with stuff on the field. Come on, we can't box each other in, and we can't all be the same, we are not robots, we are human beings.
'We express how we want to express, sometimes you are going to take it, and sometimes you are going to give it."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The 42
an hour ago
- The 42
Munster's Kleyn and Ulster new boy Augustus included in monster Springbok squad for summer Tests
RASSIE ERASMUS HAS included Munster's Jean Kleyn and new Ulster signing Juarno Augustus in a 54-player Springbok squad for the 28 June fixture against the Barbarians, followed by Tests against Italy and Georgia. The South African squad, consisting of 30 forwards and 24 backs, includes 31 Rugby World Cup veterans and nine uncapped players. There will be a staggered approach to players joining the camp that starts on 8 June given ongoing league finals in the United Rugby Championship and English Premiership. South Africa's full Japan-based contingent of players are all available following the conclusion of their season. Advertisement Five players were not considered for selection due to injuries: Frans Malherbe, Elrigh Louw, Ben-Jason Dixon, Deon Fourie and Trevor Nyakane. 'We were very pleased with the two Springbok alignment camps we hosted, and we are excited to have the luxury of announcing a squad with so much depth and talent,' said Erasmus. 'Having an expanded squad will not only afford us the opportunity to have productive training sessions, but it will also bode well for the younger players in the group to learn from the senior players, many of whom are Rugby World Cup champions. 'We take pride in offering talented young players a chance to work first-hand with the coaches and to expose them to standards at international level, and we are excited to see them showcase their skills at the camp.' Erasmus added: 'We used a total of 50 players last season in an attempt to balance the load on them, while at the same time building towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, and with a few more talented youngsters in this group, we hope that they will learn valuable lessons and stake a strong claim for places in what will be a challenging, yet exciting season.' Leinster second row RG Snyman is included among the players called up, as are Munster lock Kleyn and uncapped back row Augustus, who will move to Ulster this summer after an impressive season for Champions Cup finalists Northampton. The Springboks will meet the Barbarians in their first encounter on South African soil in Cape Town on 28 June, followed by back-to-back Tests against Italy in Pretoria and Gqeberha on 5 and 12 July, and Georgia in Nelspruit on 19 July. South Africa squad for summer Tests Forwards: Juarno Augustus, Lood de Jager, Renzo du Plessis, Jean-Luc du Preez, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Neethling Fouche, Cameron Hanekom, Jean Kleyn, Vincent Koch, Siya Kolisi, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Salmaan Moerat, Franco Mostert, Ox Nche, Ruan Nortje, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Tshituka, Marco van Staden, Marnus van der Merwe, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Cobus Wiese, Jasper Wiese Backs: Lukhanyo Am, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Damian de Allende, Faf de Klerk, Andre Esterhuizen, Aphelele Fassi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Jaden Hendrikse, Jordan Hendrikse, Ethan Hooker, Quan Horn, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Willie le Roux, Manie Libbok, Makazole Mapimpi, Ntokozo Makhaza, Canan Moodie, Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Morne van den Berg, Edwill van der Merwe, Damian Willemse, Grant Williams – © AFP 2025
The 42
an hour ago
- The 42
Ex-Munster and Ireland U20 wing to feature on new season of Love Island
FORMER MUNSTER WING Conor Phillips will be among the contestants on the 12th season of Love Island, which will air from next Monday, 9 June. Phillips, 25, will follow in the footsteps of another Limerick man and former Ireland Sevens player Greg O'Shea, who won the fifth season of the reality show in 2019. Advertisement Phillips, a former Ireland U20 international who made two appearances for Munster during their 2022/23 URC title-winning season, is one of two Irish contestants in this summer's series, with Dublin actor and pantomime actress Megan Forte Clarke also 'entering the villa'. A Munster Senior Cup winner with Young Munster in 2022, Phillips made his senior competitive debut for Munster that same year, starting on the right wing for their URC Round 3 victory at home to Zebre. He also started the away defeat to Connacht a week later but was released by Graham Rowntree at the end of the season. Phillips in action for Ireland against Kenya during this year's Singapore Sevens. Joe Hamby / INPHO Joe Hamby / INPHO / INPHO Phillips, who won an U20 Six Nations Grand Slam with Ireland in 2019, also represented his country on the World Rugby Sevens Series in 2021 and this year. Phillips played in a Munster Schools Senior Cup final with Crescent College Comprehensive in 2016 before going on to study Exercise and Health Fitness in UL. After moving to Dublin upon the completion of his degree, he linked up with Terenure, reaching the 2024 AIL Division 1A final at the Aviva Stadium where the D6W side were edged out by Cork Con.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Champions Cup game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh would be 'financially advantageous', says Munster COO
Qualification for next season's Champions Cup may have brought a huge sigh of relief with Munster Rugby but it has also opened the door to an opportunity for the province to cash in an extra €500,000 dividend. When Tadhg Beirne's side secured sixth place in the URC standings with a win over Benetton at Cork's Virgin Media Park last month it not only meant avoiding the ignominy of becoming the first Munster team to fail to quality for Europe's top-tier competition and a hammering to the balance sheet for 2025-26. It allowed the organisation to begin implementing their plan to stage a Champions Cup pool game across town at Páirc Uí Chaoimh this December. The decision to move a European fixture away from Thomond Park was not taken lightly but there were sound economic reasons a change of strategy once Munster gained the approval of GAA Central Council last March, as chief operating officer Philip Quinn outlined to the Irish Examiner this week. With the EPCR pool draw not due until later this summer, the precise date of the fixture remains unclear though the intention is to play the pool game in one of the opening two rounds in December, whichever the draw allows. 'Ticket sales, they were down this year,' Quinn said of the Champions Cup home games this season. 'EPCR1, that one in December, we've seen now two years in a row where it was Bayonne and Stade Francais, where it's gone down significantly versus what we would have budgeted. Also, this year the IRFU had their 150th anniversary that fourth international (against Australia in Dublin last November 30) definitely hit us substantially. 'We were playing the Lions that night and we saw that one fall off a cliff, so it did impact us on that side of things. 'I suppose seeing the last couple of years in that EPCR game, where we've been below what we expected on it, that's where I suppose it's given us the opportunity to look at Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the current year. 'I talk about moving a game from Thomond to Cork not being financially advantageous when it's a sell-out (in Limerick). When it's not a sell-out there's a huge opportunity. Suddenly we can bring it to a much broader audience, hopefully in December, and we will make a significant amount of money. 'It will be somewhere around an extra half a million, versus what we'd make from that one-off game in Thomond. That's a big uplift for us next season.' Munster's victory over Benetton at Virgin Media Park gifted them a spot in Europe's top-tier competition for next season. File picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile Quinn stressed Munster would not be taking anything for granted in terms of ticket sales but added there was confidence the Champions Cup match had the potential to be on a par with the 40,885 supporters who watched the January 2024 friendly with Crusaders at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, or even the 41,400 sold for the previous season's first visit to Cork GAA HQ in November 2022; when South Africa A came to town. 'Based on the feedback we're getting, I would be very positive,' the COO said. 'Look, we've done a huge amount of work on all the data behind travelling support from Cork to Limerick, and the other way around. It's no secret to say for a game in Thomond, 70 per cent are travelling from outside county Limerick to the game. Whereas when we looked at the games in Cork, it's the other way. It's 70 per cent from within the county. That's the reality of the population mix. For a smaller URC game, it can be a bigger percentage from Limerick, and that can get up to 40 per cent… but it really is travelling from all around the province. 'And it's not only games, when we look at the events and concerts in both venues as well, that's where it jumps out, that for games and events in Limerick we're hugely reliant on the market outside of County Limerick, and for games and events in Cork it's mainly the market within the county of Cork. 'But that's nothing against Limerick, that's purely down to demographics and population. That's what's jumping out at us. So when we put out our economic impact assessments, it's actually on that. It shows how many are coming from outside the county and that's purely down to population. The Cork populations is probably around 580,000, Limerick is somewhere around 200,000. 'So you'd expect that and if anything, the proportion of Limerick people attending games versus the proportion of Cork relative to population, the support is probably stronger in Limerick but the numbers aren't higher. 'So when we're looking at games in Cork then yeah, we're quite confident, based on the success, what we saw with the Crusaders and South Africa. It still needs to be a successful team, the team needed to playing well but we are confident that we will get close to a sell-out.' Read More 200-cap stalwart Rory Scannell leaves Munster after 12 years
