Kaino denies any ‘intent’ to injure Murray

Jerome Kaino has promised to be “more cautious” when charging down kicks but insists there was no “intent” to injure Conor Murray when he threw himself at the Lions scrum-half ’s standing leg in the first Test.

Kaino, the All Black blindside flanker, says his socialmedia feed is awash with replays of his controversial challenge on Murray at Eden Park in Auckland, after the Lions No 9 had completed a box kick in the 10th minute.

Warren Gatland, the Lions coach, used the word “targeting” and said: “It’s just a safety issue for me. I’d hate to see someone dive at his [Murray’s] leg and have him blow a knee and then wreck his rugby career.”

The All Blacks served Kaino up to the media to present his defence and the No 6 said: “It is never our intent to go out and intentionally injure someone outside the laws. We play hard and we play fair. That incident was a one-off. It is never our intention to try and single anyone out.”

Kaino blamed the collision on poor timing. “He’s very quick getting the ball to foot, and maybe there was a bit of timing there,” he said. “But what’s been said out there about malice and intention to hurt someone, that’s never the case.” Kaino was not cited after the game and said: “I don’t think I should have been.”

He added: “It’s popped up on my Twitter feed about a million times, so it’s a bit hard to avoid it. All I can say is it wasn’t my intention to target his planted foot.” But Kaino did concede: “We need to make sure we are on the right side of the law when we do things, and I thought I was there. But I’ll be a little more cautious.”