Former Springboks coach Nick Mallett slammed the Wellington Hurricanes and the Coastal Sharks Saturday after the New Zealanders won a scrappy Super Rugby match 30-17 in South Africa.
Photo from video
"It was an unpleasant, bad-tempered affair with the rival captains (TJ Perenara and Louis Schreuder) setting a poor example through constant chirping," said the TV analyst.
"Once you match the Sharks physically, they are in trouble," said Mallett. "The Hurricanes had skill and physicality and superior game management so they won."
"The Hurricanes had skill and physicality and superior game management so they won."
The Hurricanes were far too physical at times with Vaea Fifita red carded five minutes from time for a late, dangerous tackle on rival loose forward Daniel du Preez.
There was also a mini-brawl as the match drew to a close, which ended without any players being punished as the Australian referee blew for full-time.
Mallett also criticised the substitution of try scorer Aphelele Fassi by Sharks coach Robert du Preez just before the hour mark at Kings Park stadium in Indian Ocean port city Durban.
"He had a good game but was taken off after his first mistake of the match, a knock-on," said the coach who took the Springboks to third at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in England.
Sharks coach Robert du Preez has come under frequent media fire this season for introducing his son, also Robert, at fly-half during the second half of matches.
The change means fly-half Curwin Bosch - widely regarded as a much better playmaker than Du Preez - shifts to full-back with Fassi benched.
A Durban daily recently accused coach Du Preez, who has two other sons in the Sharks team, of "nepotism".
The coach reacted by calling some Sharks supporters "cockroaches" and some journalists "ill informed".
The fourth-place Hurricanes were clinical as they built a 17-point lead over the eighth-place Sharks before turning over 20-10 ahead.
A Juan Schoeman try for the home side helped narrow the gap to just three points before the Hurricanes regained control and scored 10 unanswered points.
Jordie Barrett, Ngani Laumape and South Africa-born Wes Goosen scored a try each for the Wellington outfit, who won the competition for the only time in 2016.
The other 15 points came from the boot of All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett with three conversions and three penalties from seven shots at goal.
Fassi and Schoeman were the Sharks' try scorers and Bosch slotted two conversions and a penalty.
