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Cape Town - Former All Blacks captain and number eight, Wayne 'Buck' Shelford believes that the public need to ease the pressure on the All Blacks and rugby players in general regarding their social habits.
This comes in the wake of the ever growing scrutiny on professional rugby players’ conduct at the tournament with high profile teams under the spotlight and being caught.
Shelford was speaking to the New Zealand Herald in the wake of Cory Jane’s apology about a binge drinking incident before their quarter-final against Argentina.
“Why can’t you have a few beers? They might be professional rugby players. They’re 72 hours away from the game. Two or three beers are not going to hurt anyone. It’s the perception of the public. It’s the perception of ‘hey, they are professionals, they shouldn’t be doing this’.
“The other side of the coin is the Welsh. They have actually gone dry for this tournament, but that is not from Warren Gatland, that is actually from the players. The players have decided to go dry and concentrate and put in all their efforts into winning a World Cup and they are heading towards that goal of theirs.
Shelford, widely regarded as re-establishing the “Ka Mate” haka as an intimidating force during his time as All Blacks captain, said that if anything, the players deserve the little rest bight they may have away from the rugby field.
“You have got to be able to sit back and unwind a little bit, because being in a hotel for six or seven weeks can be tough and not being able to have a drink every now and then. Three days out before a Test match, what does it matter?
“Were they actually hammered? I don’t think they were.
“We as All Blacks in our era, even though we were amateurs in our time, we used to have a couple of pints a night before a game. Colin Meads would have done that as well and he would have said ‘what’s wrong with that, we are just being humans’ and just saying as if we going overboard with it,” he said.
He went onto say that even though the media and rugby public have picked up on the hype, that the entire scenario was taken out of proportion.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.
“That’s what we do and I suppose what the media does. They make huge mountains out of small things, because it’s their perception of what it should be, but you don’t live in the shoes of an All Black.
“You don’t live in their shoes and see how secluded that world can be. You don’t get private time, because you always in front of the media all the time and they are looking for little glitches in your performance, so give them a break!”
This comes in the wake of the ever growing scrutiny on professional rugby players’ conduct at the tournament with high profile teams under the spotlight and being caught.
Shelford was speaking to the New Zealand Herald in the wake of Cory Jane’s apology about a binge drinking incident before their quarter-final against Argentina.
“Why can’t you have a few beers? They might be professional rugby players. They’re 72 hours away from the game. Two or three beers are not going to hurt anyone. It’s the perception of the public. It’s the perception of ‘hey, they are professionals, they shouldn’t be doing this’.
“The other side of the coin is the Welsh. They have actually gone dry for this tournament, but that is not from Warren Gatland, that is actually from the players. The players have decided to go dry and concentrate and put in all their efforts into winning a World Cup and they are heading towards that goal of theirs.
Shelford, widely regarded as re-establishing the “Ka Mate” haka as an intimidating force during his time as All Blacks captain, said that if anything, the players deserve the little rest bight they may have away from the rugby field.
“You have got to be able to sit back and unwind a little bit, because being in a hotel for six or seven weeks can be tough and not being able to have a drink every now and then. Three days out before a Test match, what does it matter?
“Were they actually hammered? I don’t think they were.
“We as All Blacks in our era, even though we were amateurs in our time, we used to have a couple of pints a night before a game. Colin Meads would have done that as well and he would have said ‘what’s wrong with that, we are just being humans’ and just saying as if we going overboard with it,” he said.
He went onto say that even though the media and rugby public have picked up on the hype, that the entire scenario was taken out of proportion.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.
“That’s what we do and I suppose what the media does. They make huge mountains out of small things, because it’s their perception of what it should be, but you don’t live in the shoes of an All Black.
“You don’t live in their shoes and see how secluded that world can be. You don’t get private time, because you always in front of the media all the time and they are looking for little glitches in your performance, so give them a break!”
