MY ACCOUNT
New Zealand coach Ian Foster labelled the confrontation between Akira Ioane and former All Black Justin Marshall as disappointing, but assured the issue has been cleared up.
The All Blacks suffered their first home series defeat in 28 years after Ireland triumphed 32-22 in Saturday’s winner-takes-all-decider.
While Irish players took to the streets of Wellington to celebrate, flanker Ioane and Sky Sports commentator Marshall were caught on video footage confronting one another.
Marshall, who played 81 games for New Zealand, was ushered away by Caleb Clarke and George Bower as Ioane, surrounded by team-mates, attempted to move towards the 48-year-old.
The footage was drowned out by the celebrations around them and Foster expressed his disappointment with all those involved after the video circulated on social media.
“Look, the reality is it’s disappointing. But two people were mouthing off a little bit at each other. I wish that hadn’t happened,” said Foster, whose job safety was confirmed on Friday despite defeat to Ireland.
“Yes, I’ve talked to both people involved, and I know they’ve had a conversation with each other, and there are no issues going forward.”
New Zealand Rugby issued a statement after the incident, saying “behaving responsibly is one of the core values in our team environment” as Sky confirmed Marshall would remain part of their coverage for the All Blacks’ upcoming tour of South Africa in August.
Though Foster questioned the actions of both Marshall and Ioane, the 57-year-old was not best pleased with the person taking the footage and then uploading it onto social media.
“I’m also not overly impressed that people think that they should film that stuff and spread it,” he added.
“Because two people arguing in a pub, I don’t think is as big of an issue as people make it out to be.”
Ioane was still included in the 36-man All Blacks squad on Friday for the upcoming Rugby Championship.
