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LONDON - Several All Blacks were racially abused by sections of the Twickenham crowd during last year's test against England here according to vice-captain Aaron Mauger.
His startling revelations to a group of journalists follows criticism from teammate Anton Oliver, who earlier this week described the crowd and sections of the British media as "ignorant and arrogant".
When asked about Oliver's comments by a British journalist at yesterday's player media session, Mauger recalled how some supporters had treated the All Blacks, the Dominion Post reported.
"In terms of the crowd I think there were a few racial remarks made to a few of our boys last year, and a few of the guys took exception to it which is fair enough because there's no place for that in sport," Mauger said.
"It seemed to be the Island guys who got picked on."
All Blacks manager Darren Shand released a statement condemning the actions of a "small minority".
"Unfortunately there is always a small number of fans who lack sportsmanship. That's true all around the world, including New Zealand," he said.
"All fans should support their team but a small minority can get carried away and direct comments at the opposition. This happens at almost every match we play, including last year's test at Twickenham.
"The England team was not involved in any way. We have every respect for the English and we share the Rugby Football Union's zero tolerance for racism in the game."
The All Blacks were also unimpressed by last year's wide scale criticism from the British press of their new haka, Kapa O Pango, Mauger said.
"With the haka as well, pulling out a new haka, I don't know if that was received too well. (The papers) might have been quoted as being 'animals' or something like that, so it was a bit disheartening."
Oliver had hinted at abuse in his original comments, saying: "I gave some friends some tickets (to last year's test) and they were just shocked at the level of opprobrium aimed at our players."
Second five-eighth Mauger said Oliver's criticism was directed at fans, not the England team.
"I don't think he meant to fuel the fire over the English or anything," he said.
"I think it was more directed towards the crowd and not towards the players at all because we have the utmost respect for the English side."
Crowd racial abuse of players has developed into a serious problem in soccer at club and international level in many parts of Europe but is rarely heard of in top level rugby.
Mauger said the All Blacks had never encountered it elsewhere.
- NZPA
