Mike Hosking: A message to the deadbeats and losers taunting Shaun Johnson

Shaun Johnson is busy trying to repair the damage he may have done post that infamous loss and outburst last weekend against Fiji.

He has apologised for appearing to blame the fans and media for their poor displays at the World Cup (which is more than David Kidwell or Adam Blair have done).

I have a lot of time for Johnson - he's fundamentally a nice guy who because of his talent and place in the game attracts more than his fair share of attention.

What he did was a mistake… it was a heat of the moment thing that most of us in the public eye have done but later regretted.

It is human to err - the unfortunate thing in this day and age... erring is now a crime that requires an outpouring of hate and retribution.

Shaun Johnson apologises for Kiwis comments: I was rattled, I f***ed up

And in that lies the problem for people who ply their trade in front of large numbers of others. Post the apology he tried to explain the effect it's had on his family.

His mother texted him saying she was in tears over what was being said.

It affected other members of his family and his partner as well.

It is - as simple and perhaps as cold hearted as it may sound - the price you pay for doing what he does.

It doesn't make it right or appropriate... but it's the reality with which people like Johnson live.

And my advice (and I feel I can offer it, given I am not exactly short of experience in this particular area, remembering Johnson still doesn't have a petition of 76,000 rounded up against his name) is: Let it wash over you.

It is easier said than done, in part, but it's not impossible and believe me when you do it - it works.

The old advice is simple advice: if social media upsets you, don't deal with it.

Johnson's mum doesn't have to look at Facebook... and she certainly doesn't have to end up in tears. Life is simply too short.

Part and parcel of being a Shaun Johnson or a Shaun Johnson's mum is you expose yourself to the world and in the world are the deadbeats and losers who contribute nothing beyond misery via a keyboard. See that for what it is... an irrelevancy.

That outburst after the game came from frustration.The frustration in part would have come from being bogged down by the sort of crap that makes mums cry -
get that out of your mind set and nothing can hold you back.