SPORT Ospreys star Baldwin laid low by lion bite in South Africa
The Ospreys last night confirmed that Wales international Scott Baldwin missed yesterday’s 44-25 thumping by the Cheetahs after being bitten by a lion in Bloemfontein.
Baldwin’s withdrawal was announced an hour before kick-off as a “hand injury” but it quickly began to surface that the hooker’s injury wasn’t rugby related.
Many of the Ospreys players, including Paul James, James Hook and Keelan Giles, posted pictures of themselves holding lion cubs on Wednesday during a visit to Weltevreden Game Lodge.
Wales star Rhys Webb shared a picture of his hand perilously close to a fence separating himself and an animal, though it seems Baldwin went one step further.
“There was an incident with a lion, it’s nothing to do with the lion in all fairness to it, but he did bite Scott,” said Ospreys boss Tandy.
“When you put your hand into a fence and there’s a lion in there, you can expect to get bit.
“He had plenty of warning, so it’s pretty stupid on Scott’s behalf. He’s pretty lucky.
“It’s nothing to do with where we were, it was a good environment, we’d been told how far back to stand.
“I don’t know what sort of wildlife programme Scott has been watching, (that says you can) pat a lion as if it’s a kitten.”
Baldwin escaped only requiring “a couple of stitches” but it could have been much worse.
The Ospreys don’t expect their No.2 to be out of action for very long, with Tandy predicting he’ll return in the near future.
“It’s probably one of the silliest things I’ve ever been involved in,” he added, “but thankfully he’s OK and hopefully he’ll be back up and running in the next couple of weeks.
“It’s not too serious, he’s had it cleaned out and had a couple of stitches.
“Hopefully he’ll travel back with us tomorrow.” PRO14 rugby round-up: Pages 52-55