Kaino had the best of intentions
Short of thumping the table laden with microphones, Jerome Kaino made his point. Six times, at least.
‘‘No, it’s never our intent to go out and injure someone,’’ the All Blacks flanker said. And again. And again.
If Kaino was indeed unhappy with his first test performance in the 30-15 win over the Lions in Auckland - as he later claimed this show was highly impressive in a packed function room at the team’s Wellington hotel.
With team-mate Ardie Savea seated alongside, lights beaming, cameras rolling, questions flying for the first 10 minutes in various British, Irish and New Zealand accents, Kaino stood firm and defended stoutly, to what the All Blacks saw as allegations he tried to injure Lions halfback Conor Murray’s left leg.
‘‘I’ve seen it [replay] reviewing the game and it’s popped up on my Twitter feed about a million times so it’s a bit hard to avoid it. I guess people have their opinions on it and all I can say is, it wasn’t my intention to go out there and target his planted foot,’’ Kaino said.
‘‘It’s never nice when you have things done to you outside the laws. The way we do things is within the spirit of the game.’’
It almost appeared that Kaino volunteered for media duties, such was his desire to clear his name.
It all kicked off on Sunday night when Lions coach Warren Gatland raised the issue, saying players launching themselves at Murray could be career-ending for the halfback whose accurate box kicking is central to the Lions’ game. ‘‘It’s concerning that they’re not trying to charge the kick down because they’re nowhere near it, they’re diving blindly and hitting someone’s leg,’’ Gatland said.
Certainly on replay, Kaino’s 10th minute dart around the side of the ruck and dive at Murray’s planted (left) leg looked bad as the halfback crumpled but was uninjured.
Can you clear up whether there was any intent? Was it a timing issue? Do you think you were lucky to escape a citing for it? To the latter query, Kaino responded: ‘‘I don’t know. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone and to play outside the rules. I wasn’t cited so I don’t think I should have been.’’
Then, what was Kaino
intending to do?
‘‘I didn’t go in to tackle him. I rolled into his leg. What I was trying to do was … his swinging [right] foot, if you can disrupt that it’s like an ankle tap so you can disrupt the kick. My timing was off and I rolled into his planted foot and that’s what I believe happened. If that’s clear enough.’’ Yes, it was. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen made his feelings clear the previous day when took umbrage at suggestions his players intended to injure. He labelled Gatland ‘‘a bit desperate’’ for raising the issue publicly. A clear and predictable tactic to take the heat off his own team, Hansen said.
Still, Gatland appeared to achieve one goal of protecting Murray from any cheap shots, and bringing it to French referee Jerome Garces’ attention for Saturday’s Wellington test.
Said Kaino: ‘‘Obviously there’s more attention being brought to it and it’s obviously a strength of the Lions, that kicking game. We need to make sure we’re on the right side of the law when we do things. I thought I was there, but I’ll be a little bit more cautious.’’