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A witness has leapt to the defence of Crusaders rugby players alleged to have been involved in a fight.
The man, who does not want to be identified, said the players were not at fault and were reacting to the situation in which they found themselves.
He tod Newstalk ZB some people were abusing Rua Tipoki for wearing white boots and pushed him into the side of a building at least three times, at which point the player reacted.
The witness said the Crusaders immediately left the scene in a taxi, but the other party continued to cause problems in the area and were involved in further fights with other members of the public.
Police said an investigation into the alleged assault could take weeks.
Several players face the claims after a street fracas in Christchurch last weekend following their Super 14 loss to the Chiefs.
Brothers Tamati and Mana Riritahi say they were attacked on Saturday night, sustaining blackened eyes, a broken nose, cuts and bruises.
They said they had laid assault complaints with the police.
Seven Crusaders players were alleged to be involved, TV3 reported last night.
The brothers claimed midfielder Tipoki started a fight with them and other players became involved, but Tipoki's father said his son was the victim, not the attacker.
The Crusaders are now in Pretoria, preparing for their Super 14 semifinal.
"I got kicked in the face while I was on the ground," Tamati Riritahi said.
But Reihana Tipoki, who was with his son, said Rua and the other Crusaders were defending themselves.
Other players named by the Riritahi brothers included Northland draftee Jake Paringatai and former All Black winger Caleb Ralph, who they said had tried to stop the fight but ended up getting knocked out.
Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach said the franchise was aware of the allegations. "We're obviously concerned but we need to take some time to investigate before we come to any conclusions."
He said the Crusaders travelled to South Africa on Sunday before team management learnt of the incident.
"We are investigating the allegations. It's a little difficult because the team is in South Africa and that's causing some delays in those investigations, but we're certainly making every effort to find out what's happened," Mr Riach said.
Inspector Gary Knowles, of Christchurch police, confirmed today an assault complaint regarding Crusaders players was under investigation.
"This will be fully investigated," Mr Knowles said. "However, I am not prepared to speculate at this stage on the outcome of that investigation."
Mr Knowles said he did not know how long an investigation would take, but expected it to be "some weeks".
- NZPA, NEWSTALK ZB
