Henry: O'Driscoll injury not intentional
Graham Henry has reiterated that no All Blacks players ever set out to deliberately hurt the opposition as the saga surrounding Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll’s injury continues to rumble on.
The All Blacks coach expressed his disappointment at suggestions the act early in the first Test which saw Keven Mealamu and Tana Umaga up-end O’Driscoll causing him to dislocate his shoulder had been deliberate and that Umaga had not expressed any sympathy or regret for the incident.
“I am quite frankly disappointed. Both Tana Umaga and myself mentioned Brian O’Driscoll in the press conference after the Test match last week.
“We said how disappointed we were and how we felt for him. That has not changed. He is a top rugby player and a top person and we have a lot of sympathy for his injury.
“But there is no way that All Blacks players go out to maim the opposition. They never have done and they don’t do it now. It’s not part of team policy and I don’t know if that is the case with all teams around the world.
“We have got high standards and we emphasise those things. There is no way that any player in the All Blacks went out to deliberately injure a player at the weekend,” Henry said.
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