Former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has played down the penalty shootout drama in the URC quarter-final at Kings Park on Saturday.

The Sharks were accused of “shameless gamesmanship” when scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse went down with cramp after slotting his second attempt of the shootout and received treatment from the hosts’ medical team

As a result, Munster flyhalf Jack Crowley was forced to wait two and a half minutes to take his kick, after which he told a Sharks medical team member to “f**k off”.

Nienaber, whose Leinster team won their Vodacom URC quarter-final against Scarlets to set up another clash with Glasgow, was asked about the incident.

“No [I don’t make much of it],” he told RTÉ Sport. “If you listen to the referee’s mic in a game without the commentary, you can just listen to what happens on the field, I mean there’s a lot of that happening in the game.

“It’s probably because it’s silent and quiet and very individualised [during the shootout], it’s more static and it’s probably elevated. The banter, the craic, or whatever you want to call it, trying to get into opposition heads is something that happens throughout the game.

“You try to do it physically, you try to do it with your mouth, you try to do it at set piece, a lot of things, rubbing guys’ hair, faces in the ground, it happens throughout the 80 minutes.”

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Nienaber said the Irish were just as good as the South Africans at dishing it out.

“You are masters at it, the Irish, ‘craic’, isn’t that the word you use? The Irish have never fell on their mouths, ever.

“You ask if Irish players do it [as much]? Wasn’t there a thing about Pete [O’Mahony] and Sam Cane? So there’s your answer,” Nienaber added, referring to an incident during Ireland’s win in the second Test against New Zealand in 2022 when O’Mahony called Sam Cane “a s**t Richie McCaw”.

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