Skip to main content
#
 
 Rugby Union News 
Thursday, July 21 2022
All Black Akira Ioane and Sky TV commentator Justin Marshall in late-night standoff

All Black Akira Ioane and Sky TV commentator Justin Marshall were involved in a late-night standoff and appeared to be separated by onlookers, a video has revealed.

The video was filmed in the wake of the All Blacks' 32-22 defeat to Ireland on Saturday and appears to have been taken later that night in Wellington.

NZ Rugby confirmed today it was aware of the incident and said "behaving responsibly is one of the core values in our team environment".

In the video, the All Black loose forward and Marshall, a former All Blacks halfback, appear to be arguing. All Blacks winger Caleb Clarke is seen standing in the way of Marshall in a possible attempt to de-escalate the situation, while a number of other All Blacks are in the way of Ioane.

The video was sent to the Herald with NZR CEO Mark Robinson CC'd on the email.

Marshall was damning of the All Blacks' 2-1 series defeat, their first series loss to Ireland.

NZ Rugby said in a statement today that All Blacks management were informed by team security of the incident caught on camera.

"Our security was managing the group in a separate area at the venue.

"We have contacted venue staff and spoken at length with players and security staff, who recall words being exchanged with another individual, as they were leaving. Our security proceeded to escort our players to their transport.

"Behaving responsibly is one of the core values in our team environment. The group were working to meet their curfew and when faced with a tricky situation, they did what they could to ensure everyone departed safely at the appropriate time."

In an interview with SENZ radio he said there were issues starting with selections in the side.

"There are players that are in that team that probably shouldn't be there," Marshall said.

"Now that's a big statement I know, but I [wasn't] utterly convinced about the players that were put in that side and that Ian Foster was trusting the All Blacks to go out there and win us a Test series against Ireland and therefore move on and win us a World Cup."

"There are lots of equations in the mix, like what the hell is Caleb Clarke doing there if his hamstring was never going to be right for the series?," he added.

"There's no point in having a guy there [that isn't fit to play]. They didn't need to name players that they couldn't use. Why did they do that?"

Posted by: AT 01:11 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Social Media
email usour twitterour facebook page