Man required surgery after Bledisloe assault

Taupo¯ police are seeking public help to identify a man who seriously assaulted a Tauranga man in Taupo¯ just before midnight on Saturday, November 7, the evening of the Bledisloe Cup game in Brisbane.

The victim was left with a significant head injury following the assault and required surgery.

He had been walking to his accommodation when he had an interaction with a man on the corner of Paora Hapi and Kaimanawa streets.

The pair, who did not know each other, spoke briefly before the victim was punched and fell to the ground.

The offender walked off down

Kaimanawa St towards Lake Taupo¯.

Police want to talk to anyone who might have seen the pair around Paora Hapi and Kaimanawa streets just before midnight.

The victim was wearing a baseball cap, a white T-shirt and brown-coloured trousers.

Police say people would have been out and about in central Taupo¯ at the time, having watched the Brisbane Bledisloe Cup game just beforehand.

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Anyone who might have information is asked to contact police on 105 and quote file No 201108/1962.