All calm as All Blacks hit town

RUGBY: There were no demonstrations, no placards, no stone-throwing or rocking of the team bus. The All Blacks arrived in Dublin yesterday evening for the second leg of their attempt at only a second Grand Slam in their history and assistant coach Steve Hansen expressed the tourists' gratitude for a warm welcome and the hope that life will "move on", presumably from "Speargate".

"The reaction was really good. There were lots of young kids running up to him (Tana Umaga) and wanted autographs, from him particularly. A lot of people in the airport said 'Welcome to Ireland' and 'We're really happy to see you here', which is great."

The likelihood is that Umaga and most of those who played in Cardiff will not start against Ireland this Saturday, which Hansen said "will be huge for a number of reasons, but mainly because they're a good side; very good up front. Most people find Lansdowne Road a very difficult place to play Test rugby and we don't expect to find it any different." Their one injury concern is lock James Ryan.

There was no mention of the story back in Auckland's Sunday Star-Times newspaper confirming that several All Blacks players had been reprimanded for making a late-night drinking trip a week before the Welsh Test and returning to their base at breakfast time. Graham Henry did not name the players involved but admitted: "We are obviously disappointed. Being an All Black is a huge honour and great privilege, and with that comes enormous responsibility."

The touring party held an in-house disciplinary meeting the following day.

"We had an honesty call, the guys that were involved put their hands up and they were dealt with by their peers and some of them found that extremely difficult. So we have dealt with it and moved on. But if it happens again it could become a selection issue."