Ospreys boss Mark Jones has labelled online abuse of wing Luke Morgan “a disgrace” after an incident that led to Sharks’ Ethan Hooker being injured.
Hooker suffered a dislocated shoulder in last weekend’s United Rugby Championship (URC) fixture at Brewery Field.
The wing scored a breakaway try at the end of the first half and was injured in the process after opposite number Morgan dived to try to dislodge the ball.
Eight-times capped Hooker will miss the URC run-in and is a doubt for South Africa’s summer Tests.
Morgan, who won a full cap in 2018 and is Wales sevens’ record try scorer, has been targeted on social media along with family members.
“I am not online for that particular reason. I don’t like how things can transpire online, so I am not on it,” said Ospreys head coach Mark Jones.
“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.”
Ospreys, leading 14-5, had been hunting a try to stretch their lead when the ball went loose and Sharks broke away.
Jones, a former wing with Scarlets and Wales, stressed his player was just trying all he could to prevent a key score.
“Luke Morgan is a competitive guy. He’s chasing back as hard as he can for his team in what was a tight game,” Jones 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.”
Jones said Morgan was “well within his right to try to dislodge the ball” as Hooker went over.
“Ethan Hooker is a great player and unfortunately he got injured in that incident, but there’s no malice in that challenge,” he added.
“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.”
There were reports that Sharks had asked for the incident to be investigated by the URC, but Ospreys have had no complaints from the citing commissioner and Morgan is available to face Cardiff on Friday night.
“He’s a pretty resilient guy,” continued Jones. “He’s played professional rugby at the highest level.
“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.”
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Uncontested scrum controversy
Ospreys’ excellent 21-17 victory kept alive their slim hopes of qualifying for the URC play-offs but it came in controversial circumstances.
Sharks, who needed a win themselves to keep the pressure on the top eight, were furious that injuries to loose-head props Gareth Thomas and Garyn Phillips led to uncontested scrums for the final quarter.
That meant Ospreys were reduced to 14 men but the South Africans, who were increasingly dominant at the set-piece thanks to the introduction of Springboks props Ox Nche and Vincent Koch, failed to make the most of that numerical advantage.
Once again, that has led to plenty of finger-pointing from South Africa but Jones has defended his club.
“We at the Ospreys pride ourselves on our integrity,” he said. “We are pretty disappointed if people are suggesting that we didn’t adhere to everything that we should be doing on game day.”
Wales loose-head Thomas failed a head injury assessment on Saturday but passed another on Monday so remains in contention for Friday’s derby at Cardiff.
