Kaino’s no Con artist

NEW ZEALAND star Jerome Kaino insists his conscience is clear over the treatment of Lions scrum-half Conor Murray.

Coach Warren Gatland claimed the All Blacks had illegally targeted Murray’s standing leg when box-kicking during the Lions’ 30-15 loss in the first Test.

And the fallout since has placed Kaino’s motives under intense scrutiny.

But the flanker said: “People have their opinions. All I can say is it wasn’t my intention to go out there and target his planted foot. We need to make sure we are on the right side of the law and I thought I was but I’ve got to be a bit more cautious.

“You always look at how you can improve and I looked at that incident and there are areas I can improve.

“But what is at question is my intent and what kind of player I am.

“All I can say is I never go into a game thinking to target someone or to intentionally hurt them.”

Branded “desperate” by Kiwi coach Steve Hansen for raising the matter, the personal attacks on Gatland have continued in the Kiwi media, with one newspaper depicting him as a clown.

That was one step too far for All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster, once a team-mate of Gatland at Waikato.

He said: “It’s part of the environment when you play a big series and this is a big series.

“We’ll go hammer and tongs at each other but at the end of the third Test we’ll sit down and have a beer. It’s important we have a yarn as mates.”