Siya Kolisi: Let’s get over cramp controversy. It's rugby, it’s entertainment

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has already weighed in, as did Leinster assistant coach Jacques Nienaber who made light of the controversy

Tue, 03 Jun, 2025 - 18:55

Tony Leen

SOUTH African captain Siya Kolisi has backed his compatriot Jaden Hendrikse over the cramp controversy which stirred a hornet's nest 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."