Another player has been caught up in a scandal at the Rugby World Cup. But don’t worry, it’s not an England player this time.
No, it’s New Zealand’s own Cory Jane, who was forced to apologise to All-Black management and his team mates after being caught drinking and smoking in an Auckland bar on Thursday night, three days before the quarter-final with Argentina, which the All-Blacks came through somewhat unconvincingly yesterday.
Jane and injured teammate Israel Dagg were spotted in a Takapuna bar on Thursday night, but despite the incident going public, Jane was still selected on the wing for the clash against the Pumas.
Being caught sneaking a few pints on a Thursday night is normally the preserve of club GAA players in this country navigating their way around the dreaded beer ban, but given that it was in Auckland and the high-profile the All-Blacks enjoy in New Zealand, Jane and Dagg could hardly have thought they were going to get away with it.
A groveling Jane has issued an apology for his behaviour, but refused to divulge the details of what actually happened on the night.
“I made a stupid choice the other night and it was important for me to go out there and play well and not let what I did affect the team too much,” said Jane.
“I made a poor decision, not going to go into the details,” he says. “I just made a stupid decision and put pressure on my team, so you know, I gotta live with that.”
A typically growling and monotone Graham Henry batted away questions about Jane’s behaviour in the press conference following the Argentina game.
“We’ve dealt with that and we’ve moved on,” said Henry
“He’s a proud all black and he wanted to perform,” Henry added. “He probably didn’t make a good decision during the week, he definitely didn’t make a good decision during the week and he wanted to right that. I thought he was outstanding out there.”
Captain Richie McCaw was also eager to put the incident to bed.
“If we’re realistic about putting everything you can into winning this thing, it’s making good decisions and we probably had an incident that was not a good decision, but as Graham said we’ve dealt with that and the guys are pretty committed to doing everything we can to win the thing,” he said.
The Jane incident is not the first drinking scandal to hit the All-Blacks in recent weeks. Team-mate Zac Guildford admitted he had a drinking problem after a much-publicised disciplinary incident following the Tri-Nations defeat to Australia last month.
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