Hansen Denies Accusation Of Pre-Match Ref Meetup

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen had firmly denied any accusations he met with referee Romain Poite before New Zealand's Bledisloe Cup victory last night.

The Australian Rugby Union has filed a complaint with World Rugby over an alleged pre-match meeting.

Such meetings are allowed, however the opposition coach has to be informed and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said he wasn't in this case.

Hansen maintained that aside from saying "Morning" to Romain Poite in the team hotel, he had no other contact with the Frenchman prior to last night's test.

Hansen has admitted that he and forwards coach Mike Cron did meet with last week's referee Jaco Peyper at Peyper's request, to review aspects of his performance in Sydney.

Hansen is disappointed such accusations have come to light, and insisted he hadn't met a ref for the last 18 to 24 months.

That said, Hansen had nothing but praise for his side for locking away the Bledisloe for another year.

"On the scoreboard it looks like we've done it pretty easy but I don't think anyone would say it was easy out there tonight," he said.

"The skill level of our guys was really good under extreme pressure at times."

"It was a different game altogether from the last one. Australia turned up and threw everything they had at us and a little bit more and we just had to learn to cope with that and play and still score tries."

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika took aim at Romain Poite for his treatment of Wallabies captain Stephen Moore last night, claiming Moore was not afforded the same opportunities to talk with officials that All Black skipper Kieran Read was.

"There was a time there in the game, in a break in play, when the national captain of Australia was asking the referee 'When might be an opportunity for me to talk to you?' and he just absolutely ignored him," Cheika said

The Australian coach also accused All Blacks prop Owen Franks of gouging the eye of Wallabies lock Kane Douglas, but SANZAAR have confirmed there are no citings from the match.

The All Blacks led 15-9 at the break thanks to an Israel Dagg double. Julian Savea and Dane Coles both crossed in the second half.

Just one arrest was made at the test in Wellington although 19 people were thrown out for being drunk.

Four more failed to make it into the Cake Tin because they were already intoxicated when they arrived.

Police say they made another 14 arrests in the city last night for alcohol-related offending and fighting.

via Radio Sport