Kiwi rugby bosses probe off-field drama

NEW Zealand Rugby and the Crusaders have launched investigations into two separate incidents of alleged homophobic and unsocial behaviour.

Crusaders wing George Bridge has been accused of directing homophobic slurs and gestures at patrons at a fast food restaurant over the weekend in Cape Town while flyhalf Richie Mo’unga, also an All Black, was alleged to have spat beer at people at a nightspot earlier in the week.

The players embroiled in the restaurant incident “strongly refuted” allegations of homophobia, the team said on Monday, while coach Scott Robertson played it down as a misunderstanding over a selfie.

But with witnesses coming forward to criticise the players on local radio, New Zealand Rugby said it had launched a probe.

“The allegations that have been made about players, in two different incidences, are very serious,” New Zealand Rugby’s chief rugby officer Nigel Cass said yesterday.

“These allegations are about abuse, inappropriate and offensive behaviour, and we do not tolerate this. (But) it is important that we look at these claims without prejudice or assumptions.”

On Monday, a Twitter user posted an account of the incident that accused the players of being “physically intimidating” and mocking his friends with high-pitched voices and homophobic gestures.

A Cape Town man who identified himself as a friend of the accusers told New Zealand media that he asked one of the players why he was filming his friend with his cellphone.

“He then said, ‘well, we look funny’,” the man, who only gave his first name as Jeremy, told Radio New Zealand.

“I am speaking for the queer community of South Africa and Cape Town in voicing that we are tired of these experiences,” he said.

Following reports of the restaurant incident, a woman came forward to accuse Mo’unga of spitting beer on her and her friends.

She told Radio New Zealand that Mo’unga had apologised to her the next day when she contacted him via Instagram.

Radio New Zealand posted a screenshot of Mo’unga’s apology in which he admitted to being drunk. |