The Ospreys have strongly rejected accusations that they “cheated” in their win against the Sharks by forcing the match to go to uncontested scrums last Saturday.
However, two of the props who came off injured in that game in Wales have been selected to start against Cardiff on Friday night.
“There has been a lot of talk, and I haven’t read through it all, but there’s a suggestion that Garyn Phillips wasn’t injured,” said Ospreys coach Mark Jones.
“It would be quite easy for me to produce his scans if you’d like, and if anybody would like to see them. We are more than happy to share that, but it’s not my scan; it’s Garyn’s and that’s his private information, but Garyn won’t be featuring for us this week.
“He’s injured as a result of scoring his try, actually, and then tried his absolute best to carry on for the team afterwards. He tried to get into a couple of scrums, and you can clearly see from the scrums that he’s just unable to function.”
Starters this weekend
An adamant Jones said: “Our prop availability list has been reduced.”
However, loosehead prop Gareth Thomas and tighthead prop Tom Botha have both been named to start against Cardiff.
“Gareth Thomas failed his HIA 1 test by a doctor and was unable to continue; therefore, we weren’t in a position to field a front-row,” Jones said.
Thomas, though, passed his second HIA test on Monday morning as part of standard protocol and was therefore available for selection for Cardiff.
Botha was subbed off against the Sharks due to a “neck concern” but starts at Cardiff Arms Park.
Hooker injury
Jones also condemned the online abuse aimed at wing Luke Morgan and his family over the incident that injured Sharks centre Ethan Hooker.
“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,” he said.
“Luke Morgan is a competitive guy … there’s no malice in that challenge.
“It’s really unfortunate that Ethan got injured, but Luke was just trying his best to do what he could for his team.”
This story first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission.
