All quiet over Smith sex scandal

ALL Blacks coach Steve Hansen has refused to take questions on the Aaron Smith sex scandal that has engulfed the team days before the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney.

Hansen has chosen Smith to start at halfback for tomorrow’s match against the Wallabies despite explosive revelations that the player attempted to convince the woman he had sex with in the toilets of an airport to deny the story after it emerged last year.

Messages from Smith to the woman were exposed on Wednesday and even suggest Hansen encouraged Smith to convince the woman to sign an affidavit to silence the story.

Yesterday a question put to Hansen was cut off by All Blacks media manager Joe Locke, along with several other in relation to the scandal.

Hansen would only say: “Obviously the incident happened last year. We dealt with it and we feel that we dealt with it decisively.

“There’s nothing more that I can add to that but if there is anything else that needs to be spoken about, it will come from the New Zealand Rugby Union themselves.”

Hansen said Smith would not be distracted by the revelations on the eve of the game.

“He is in a great head space in that he knows that he’s dealt with this issue and done the things that he needs to do around it and he’s ready to play,” said Hansen.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said the scandal gripping the All Blacks’ camp would not help his side, trying to win back the Bledisloe after 14 years of Kiwi dominance.

“All that other off-field stuff is exactly that, off-field, it gives us nothing on the field,” Cheika said.

“On the field is where the game is played and where the contest is, not off the field.

“The distractions have to come on the field. We have to put them under pressure.”

Almost a year after ‘Buggate’ blew up on the day of the first Bledisloe game, the latest report claims Smith lied to his All Blacks bosses over the sordid airport encounter.