‘I thought they were playing’ – Super Rugby streaker’s ‘nuts and bolts’ leaves All Blacks and coaches in stitches
The Chiefs and Blues captains and coaches react to the Eden Park streakers.
The Super Rugby Pacific clash between the Blues and Chiefs was brought to a halt on Saturday after streakers made their way onto the Eden Park turf during the match.
It was one of several incidents during the game, with one streaker in particular getting rather close to the action in the 70th minute.
The pitch invaders wandered into the Chiefs’ backline, forcing referee Damon Murphy to stop the game as the streaker was taken down by security.
Super Rugby streakers
At the time, Chiefs held a 18-14 lead with play resuming with a scrum to the visitors in their half.
Damian McKenzie would go on to score and convert a try, helping his side to a 25-14 victory over the defending Super Rugby Pacific champions in round one of the tournament.
Speaking after the match, All Blacks flanker and Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson was able to see the funny side of what had occurred.
“A few nuts and bolts out,” he laughed when asked about the invaders.
“You’ve got to just laugh at it. It’s not ideal for the game, but it’s not a distraction for us at all.
Streaker interrupts Blues vs Chiefs game 😂
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“We just let the security guards deal with that, the ref calls time off and we just get on to the next play. Happy days.”
Meanwhile, fellow All Black and Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu was less enthused and expressed his sympathy for the security staff that had to deal with the streakers.
“For us, it didn’t really take away from us and what we were trying to do. I do feel sorry for the security, though,” he said.
“I thought they were playing for the Chiefs!”
His head coach, Vern Cotter, did see the humorous side of what occurred as he thought that the Chiefs had a few extra men on the park.
“I didn’t even see those guys, [I was] watching the next ruck. Suddenly there’s a few more people, I thought they were playing for the Chiefs for a while,” he said.
“That was taken care of and we were on the game, nothing else.”
Round two of Super Rugby sees the Chiefs face off against the Crusaders while the Blues head to Forsyth Barr for a clash against the Hurricanes.
