All Blacks star Aaron Smith has been sent home from South Africa after “breaching team standards regarding behaviour” after he was seen walking into a disabled toilet cubicle with a “female friend” at Christchurch Airport.
The New Zealand coach, Steve Hansen, confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday that the scrum-half was on a plane back home and will miss the Test in Durban having accepted that his behaviour was “not of All Blacks standard”.
“On our arrival to South Africa on Monday we were informed on this,” Hansen said.
“I had a conversation with Aaron who confirmed the story. As a result of this the leadership group met and were unanimous in the fact the behaviour wasn’t acceptable and as a consequence a one-match suspension would be put in place.”
According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, a witness saw the 27-year-old enter a disabled toilet with a female – understood not to be his partner Teagan Voykovich – at Christchurch Airport on Sunday, the day after the All Blacks Test against South Africa in Christchurch.
“The pair were in the bathroom for 5-10 minutes and from the noises coming out of the bathroom there was absolutely no question what the couple were doing in there,” he said.
“Mr Smith then came out of the room on his own straightening up his white checked shirt and black dress pants [the All Blacks uniform they were all wearing at the time].
“About a minute later the young lady comes out of the same toilet cubicle looking equally suspicious. I myself did not have a problem with this... my wife, however, is protesting that this is disgusting for a public figure to do this.
“He essentially occupied a public cubicle reserved for the disabled for up to 10 minutes. This was not discreet. It was 2pm on a Sunday where there were a lot of children and fans around. He was in his full All Blacks uniform and there was not an ounce of remorse or regret on his face. He buttoned up his shirt and sat back down with his team mates and carried on smiling chatting like nothing had happened.”
