All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has explained why it took five days for the New Zealand Rugby Union to come forward about the alleged bugging of the world champions’ meeting room in Sydney.
Police are investigating the delay after a listening device was found on Monday hidden in a chair at the Intercontinental hotel in Double Bay during a routine security check.
It wasn’t reported to police until Saturday, hours before the All Blacks’ Bledisloe Cup opener against the Wallabies at ANZ Stadium.
Superintendent Brad Hodder said “any delay in any investigation’s always tough but we’ll look at that information”.
Hansen said All Blacks management decided it was best to wait for NZRU chief Steve Tew to arrive in Sydney from the Rio Olympics before taking the matter further.
“The reason that we didn’t go there straight away was because we went through a process with the hotel and our CEO was away at the Olympics,” Hansen said after the All Blacks beat the Wallabies 42-8 in a record-breaking performance at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
“He arrived and he needed to be spoken to and fully briefed on it.
“Once he was fully briefed, he said `righto we need to take this to the police’”
As an ex-policeman himself, Hansen said he could understand authorities being frustrated.
“Whether it was right or wrong, it’s what’s happened so we all have to accept that and deal with it,” he said.
Supt Hodder said police didn’t have a theory about who planted the device – and nor does Hansen or the All Blacks.
“Lots of people are speculating about who’s done it and who hasn’t and I don’t think that’s fair because no one knows who’s done it and obviously there’s plenty of people who could do it,” Hansen said.
“So I think until the enquiry’s done by the police, we should sit back and that’s it, let them do their job and certainly not speculate on who planted it there because no one knows.
“We certainly don’t know.”
As evident by the All Blacks’ biggest-ever win on home soil, Hansen said his world champion side wasn’t distracted by the pre-game sideshow – “more shocked”.
“It’s not something that we wanted, bit it happened,” he said.
“It’s like an injury, isn’t it. You’ve got to deal with it and it’s not in your control.
“But how you react is in your control and we’ve just got on with our work and passed it over to the powers that be and they’ll deal with it.”
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said his team wasn’t bothered by the explosive revelation either.
“I don’t think anyone accused us of putting it there, did they? It’s got nothing to do with us,” Cheika said.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
NZ Herald article says there's a World Rugby regulation which requires an immediate report to the governing body of any suspicious behaviour. You can also notify other parties. but World Rugby must be told. The same regulation advises members that police may well need to be informed too. All in all, the touring team fell short here. I suspect they really just thought it was local shenanigans, and looked to turn it to their advantage. Now the penny has dropped it might be outside criminal activity, I'm sure they realize they made a serious mistake. I think, though, if you are going to scan for bugs, then you probably ought to have a protocol in place for what to do if you find one. Either the NZRU didn't have one, or it was inadequate.
ClarkeG
Guest
I doubt NZ Rugby suspect that Aust Rugby has anything to do with this at all.
McCaw was onside?
Guest
If I was to speculate. NZ found it. NZ fed it misleading info. NZ then leaked it on game day. NZ suspected it was Aus rugby. NZ suspected it had happened before.
ClarkeG
Guest
Well presumably if they were running a bank they would have reacted differently but they are not running a bank.
Derm
Roar Guru
I've nothing but absolute praise for New Zealand rugby team on the pitch and I'm not Australian. I just find the article with its tame line that Hansen "explains" the five day delay less than credible and I'm surprised that no journalist asked any follow up questions - or at least none that have been reported. Simple questions like when was Steve Tew first notified about the listening device? Did the NZ team attempt to find out who might be listening to it when they discovered it? Did they leave it in the room and transmitting? Who did the sweep of the room? Someone employed by NZRU or a local consultancy? Have the NZRU done this before? Did they find anything before? Why did they start doing it and when? What exactly was the process they went through with the hotel? When did Steve Tew say to bring it to the attention of the police? Are they aware of other test teams undertaking this kind of surveillance sweep?
CUW
Guest
LOL have they not heard of a device called the TELEPHONE, with which u can have a conference call on International Direct Dialing (IDD) ? granted the time difference is a little nuisance but then if it is important then time is not an issue. thank god these guys aint running bank , coz if they did and waited for ceo (for 5 days no less) , they would be bankrupt !!!
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
It would be interesting to know whether the bug was found through a sweep, or because Beauden Barrett's uncanny sense of touch felt it under his backside when he sat down. If it was a sweep, then you'd want to know when NZ started doing that, and whether other international teams do it too. It sounds like the kind of precaution Clive Woodward might have considered. I don't buy Hansen's story about having to wait for Tew. If they had really felt any urgency, then it would have been easy to contact him. Instead, it sounds a little as if NZ treated the incident like a spying session at training, or someone stealing into a team room to grab a copy of the gameplan. Only belatedly did they realize it was a serious criminal matter. I can't really blame them for that. Rugby still thinks of itself as an innocent sport but we really shouldn't be so naive.
Blake
Guest
Yes and we all know how Australians ended up living in Australia,nothing new. Actually nothing unexpected ;-)
ebop
Guest
I'll say! It's an outrage that the ABs actually went to the trouble of hiring someone to sweep the room and then found a bug. If I was a conspiracy theorist, which I'm not. You could look at the humping last night and compare it with other AB games in Sydney in recent years. Some close games and losses. What was different in this biggest blowout in history last night? A bug 'was' found and Australia looked clueless. Coincidence? Anyway, I'm not a conspiracy theorist so I don't believe a word of that.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Ain't...
taylorman
Roar Guru
Doesn't matter, it's one way of rubbishing kiwis, can't do it it with the actual rugby so grab any other opportunity lying around to do so. I mean hands up who thinks Antoni would think any Hansen explanation for anything would be a reasonable one. None...and gonna happen. Needs a new trick really. This ones tiring.
p.Tah
Guest
Just out of interest, why would the ABs bring in security to sweep the room for surveillance devices? Is this standard practice?
Mason
Guest
Well he raises a very valid point don't you think Antoni? How do you or Pot Hale know any better than the people a tally involved? If you look at the releases you will see that the ABs actually went through a process with the Intercontinental first, but let's just ignore that shall we as it's far better to slag off the Kiwis. It's the go to on this site as always, can't beat them on the field so let's have a go at something else. Coaches and Players all know that this happens but since it happened to the ABs and they didn't follow the protocol that you demand then it is bs? You do realise that this is unprecedented right? It has never happened before and therefore, there is no established process, but of course Roarers know much better than the experts involved.
ClarkeG
Guest
Yes it is nonsense. How silly of them to find a listening device in a room they were using.
ClarkeG
Guest
You don't know that. All we know at this point is that a device was found in a room that they used at the hotel.
Ruka
Guest
Moderated
Antoni
Guest
Typical, attack the poster rather than deal with the post. Pot Ale is right, Hansen's explanation is total bs.
Ruka
Guest
Well thankfully no one relies on some self proclaimed Guru from the roar.com.au to determine what is correct and incorrect practice when dealing with these kinds of situations.
Derm
Roar Guru
Does none of the New Zealand coaching team know how to use a phone? If you discover a device in your conference room, you don't sit on the information until your CEO arrives from another country. You tell him straight away. This explanation is sheer nonsense from the NZ rugby camp and I'm kinda surprised no journalist called them on it. I don't believe for a second this "process" they had to go through and then waited for Tew to arrive? And then the news leaks just before the match?
Ed
Guest
It's still highly uncertain whether the ABs were the target. Plenty of high profile figures stay there, as do government delegations. Aus agencies (and other countries) have been caught in the past bugging mobiles, landlines, rooms etc as part of trade negotiations. No doubt plenty of high worth / low life individuals also stay there that would be of interest to various agencies. Sure it's also possible the ABs were the target. However, the performance of the WBs showed they really had no clue about anything (information or misinformation) so doubt they were the ones listening!