All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen has claimed an Australian television network filmed one of their closed training sessions and handed the footage to the Wallabies before Saturday’s final Tri-Nations encounter.
Both the Australian team, and a reporter for the Channel Seven network, who Hansen alleges to have filmed Friday’s training session, denied the claim.
The All Blacks came back from 17-7 down with 30 minutes to play to win the match 28-24 and clinch their fourth successive Tri-Nations title and retain the Bledisloe Cup.
Speaking to reporters in Brisbane on Sunday, Hansen said an Australian official informed the All Blacks of the alleged filming after the match.
”It’s not a rumour, it’s a fact which is really disappointing,” Hansen said. ”It was Channel Seven, and I don’t know if it was more than one session but I definitely know of one session, then they gave it to the Australians.
”It’s disappointing that the Australians actually used it. We know they used it because they told us. It was a bit dumb, but they did.”
The Australian team, however, denied the claims.
‘No foundation’
”There is absolutely no foundation to the allegations that Steve Hansen has made,” the Wallabies said in a statement.
”No one from the team will be commenting any further. To do so would be to give the allegations a level of credibility they simply don’t deserve.”
Channel Seven’s Brisbane sports reporter Rohan Welsh, who covered the All Blacks’ build-up, also insisted Hansen was wrong.
”We would never give the Wallabies our vision,” Welsh was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Press Association.
”And if the Wallabies can watch our news bulletin and make something of a two-and-a-half second grab, shot through the trees, then Robbie Deans is a better coach than we all give him credit for.”
International rugby has been rife with claim and counter-claims of espionage, with the All Blacks claiming they had caught two men wearing camouflage gear filming a training session in Britain in 2005.
”It’s hard enough to win games without the opposition knowing what you’re going to do before you do it,” said Hansen.
”That’s why we do our analysis.
”The disappointing thing is, it’ll reflect back next time we’re here and it’s going to be difficult for people to watch us train, I suppose.” – Reuters