Kerre Woodham: Love Hore, deplore his violence

Steve Hansen should have stuck by his player but deplored Andrew Hore's actions. Photo / Getty Images

The only people not offering an opinion on Andrew Hore's king hit on young Welsh lock Bradley Davis last week seemed to be All Black management and Hore himself.

Everyone else had an opinion, whether they were rugby fans or not.

Although Hore has an impeccable record on the field, his seal-killing exploits were brought up on talk-back radio time and again - one texter wrote that Hore had killed a seal, now he's whacked a whale - dolphins should be very afraid.

The five-week suspension seems about right, and after his hearing Hore offered a very pretty public apology to Davis, his teammates and implicitly the country.

It was good to hear he'd been in touch with Davis personally, too, to check up on his well-being, and so the matter will end.

I do think the All Black management should have issued a strong statement condemning violence on the field immediately after the incident, though - loyalty is an admirable trait but, to borrow a phrase from Destiny Church, you can love the sinner but hate the sin.

Steve Hansen should have stuck by his player but deplored his actions.

And just finally, sticking with sport, my cunning plan of bagging the Black Caps last week to ensure they won the test against Sri Lanka this week, making me look like an idiot, worked brilliantly.