YOU’RE A BULLY

All Blacks coach accuses Gatland of pressuring ref

All BLACKS coach steve Hansen has accused Warren Gatland of ‘bullying’ referee Jaco Peyper ahead of tomorrow’s opening Test.

Gatland has voiced concerns about the All Blacks using illegal blocking to stop lions players competing for the ball in the air.

The claims of cheating increased tension between the two camps and Hansen claimed the attempts to influence the referee are unfair.

‘If I talk to the media about it then I am applying pressure and that is comparable to bullying him, so I don’t want to do that,’ said Hansen, when asked if he would voice any of his own concerns.

‘I’ll just quietly talk to him and there are certain areas we will talk about. Have we got concerns? We just want the referee to referee the way they said they would in March and to be consistent.

‘Will there be mistakes? Yes, because they are human, just like both teams will make mistakes. There is no point

trying to bully the referees publicly in the media. We will talk about it in private and he will get his interpretations across of what he wants.’ Hansen, who laughed off Gatland’s claims that he is ‘worried’, added that blocking is a widespread problem. ‘The referee has got the hardest job in the world,’ said Hansen. ‘With blocking, the rule says that as long as you don’t change your direction of running then you are entitled to run back and help your team-mate. ‘That is the key. If you run five metres to get in front of someone then you are dumb. That is dopey and in that case, Gats is quite right. ‘It happens every week. If you look at the Samoa game then it happened to us and I am sure if Warren is willing and able to look closely at his own team, they have been doing it, too.’ The spat came on the day another refereeing controversy resurfaced, with French official Joel Jutge admitting he should have sent off Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu for their infamous spear-tackle on Brian O’Driscoll 12 years ago. The Kiwi pair escaped unpunished despite ending O’Driscoll’s tour in the first minute of the first Test in 2005 with a tackle that could have broken the Lions captain’s neck. Umaga called the Irishman a ‘sook’ — slang for a cry-baby — and has never apologised. Now, speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, Jutge has revealed his regret at the error. ‘It should have at least been one red card,’ the Frenchman told Sportsmail. ‘Maybe Mealamu. Maybe Umaga. Maybe both. We didn’t see it and so we didn’t sanction it. I was really upset with myself. ‘I realised at the post-match reception when someone said we missed an awful spear-tackle. When I reviewed it at the hotel, I was very unhappy. The officials should have worked better together.’ Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward later presented irrefutable video evidence of his captain being picked up by his legs as the Lions pushed for sanctions, but both Kiwi players were free to play in the rest of the series. No All Blacks player has been sent off since 1967 but Jutge dismissed the idea that referees are scared to do it in New Zealand. ‘Today you have very experienced guys: Jaco Peyper, Jerome Garces, Romain Poite,’ he said. ‘Intimidation will not be a factor for them.’