SYDNEY, (Millat + APP/AFP): Wallabies coach
Michael Cheika Wednesday said he’s not expecting an apology from New Zealand after a security consultant employed by the All Blacks was charged with bugging their hotel before last year’s Sydney Test against Australia.
Cheika welcomed the news that police had laid charges of public
mischief after a listening device was discovered in the All Blacks’ hotel. New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has labelled the charge as “bizarre and unbelievable”.
Asked whether he wanted an apology from New Zealand, Cheika told the
Sydney Morning Herald: “I’m not expecting anything, I don’t think that’s necessary.
They made a call.
“They made their play and the police have shown that to be a
different outcome to what maybe that inference was but I don’t expect anything like an apology.
“I’d forgotten about it really and then it came up. I was surprised
they (police) were still onto it but there was an investigation to be had and they did their business and came up with that solution and that outcome.
“I knew one thing was definite… the inference was that we were
involved, I know that was ridiculous. I knew that would be in the final outcome.”
Adrian Gard, who has worked as a security consultant for the All
Blacks for a number of years, will appear in a Sydney court on March 21.
Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver said it had left a “bitter
taste” that the story broke on the morning of the Test, which New Zealand won 42-8, although the bug was reportedly found five days earlier.
Cheika said it was reassuring that no one from Australian rugby had
been linked to any kind of espionage.