He came out strong….
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi has come out in support of Sharks teammate Jordan Hendrikse after the URC shoot-out incident during their quarter-final against Munster on Saturday.
With the sides level after 80 minutes, the game went to extra-time, and after a charged-down drop-goal attempt from Jordan Hendrikse just before the extra-time interval, the sides were still level at 24-24 and the game went to a place-kicking shoot-out.
Ultimately, the Sharks won 6-4, with Munster centre Rory Scannell missing his kick.
But there was huge controversy when Jordan Hendrikse went down with cramp before Jack Crowley was to take his second kick.
As one of his side’s three designated kickers, Hendrikse had been warned after his first kick for chirping at Crowley.
When the Munster out-half went to take his second, head coach John Plumtree and other staff came onto the field to help Hendrikse with his injury.
An angered Crowley didn’t take too kindly to the interruption from the South African and despite his protestations was not allowed take his kick while Hendrikse was being attended to.
Munster fans, and even some from South Africa, were not happy with the actions of the Sharks team, while there have been numerous opinion pieces on the controversy.
Kolisi, however, played it down and wants people to ‘get over it’.
He said: “We stand with Jaden, he is competitive. There has been banter everywhere in the game. We’ve seen it from players from all over the world,” Kolisi told reporters ahead of the Sharks’ semi-final clash with the Bulls.
“There is always a big thing about it but 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.
“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.
“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.”
