Africa-Press – South-Africa. Sharks prop Ntuthuko Mchunu admitted being shocked at the news of their opponents, Ulster, suffering a team-wide illness that caused the sudden postponement of last weekend’s United Rugby Championship (URC) fixture.
The Irish side as well as the Sharks’ previous week’s opponents, Glasgow Warriors, who were meant to play the Lions at Ellis Park, were ravaged by gastrointestinal illness while in Durban.
URC CEO Martin Anayi later revealed that a yet-to-be-completed medical review suspected the two overseas teams might’ve brought the stomach with them into South Africa.
It was initially thought that Durban’s water and sanitation system could have been the cause of the gastro outbreak.
Anayi confirmed that both teams suffered from cases of E.coli (which is bacterial) as well as the viral norovirus, which necessitated the matches’ postponements.
“It was quite shocking news on Friday,” said Mchunu.
“We had a good week of preparations and had come off a good win a week before and we were looking forward to the whole festivities of the day.
“We had prepared really well and we were looking forward to last week’s game.
“Fortunately for us, we had prepared so well that, with everything that’s happened, we managed to brush up on a lot of things.”
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The match postponements caused quite a stir, with the host teams in the dark about whether they would be awarded the win points for the overseas teams’ failure to honour the matches.
Sharks co-owner Marco Masotti hit out at the URC on Twitter before quickly deleting his post.
“Is this a joke? Must be,” he wrote. “Is this a professional sports league? Has this happened in other professional sports leagues? Maybe darts, curling, or pickleball? Just give us the points.”
Meanwhile, Mchunu said they were primed and ready to battle the Bulls at Loftus on Sunday after their unscheduled extra week hiatus.
Loftus is where the Sharks bombed out of last season’s tournament thanks to Chris Smith’s drop-goal at the death. The Sharks have also lost two Currie Cup finals there in Jake White’s time in charge.
“Some players are going to be really fresh this weekend. But we are looking forward to the [Bulls clash], which is a big game between two South African sides going at each other,” said Mchunu.
“We’re just taking care of what we can take care of and prepared well.
“Going to Loftus is never easy. We’ve prepared for a really physical and set-piece battle. We know they’re going to bring it.
“They’ve got good players and I have no doubt that we’ve got really good players as well.
“It should be a good game and we’re definitely going to front up as well. The past is the past and we’re looking forward to the future.”
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