All Blacks: Reduced ban angers locals

Keven Mealamu. Photo / Getty Images

The stain on Keven Mealamu's character has been removed - his crime reduced from intentional to reckless and his ban from four weeks to two.

But while the genial hooker has had his honour restored after his appeal was partially successful in Edinburgh yesterday, the All Blacks have done much to anger the northern hemisphere rugby fraternity in the way they have handled the whole affair.

The selection of Mealamu for this morning's game did not go down well. The Blues captain was bracketed with Hika Elliot on Thursday morning, an act of belligerence in the eyes of some up here.

The All Blacks will no doubt say it was a means of showing they had faith in the appeal process; that they kept Mealamu's name on the team-sheet as a means of supporting his innocence.

Maybe so, but it has done much to chill increasingly frosty relations between the All Blacks and their Home Union hosts. The English papers were full of moral outrage during the week, aghast at what they perceived to be the gall of the All Blacks who were affectively accused of claiming to be holier than thou.

Richie McCaw entered the debate, jumping in with both feet, making it clear he was surprised Dylan Hartley wasn't also cited for kneeing the skipper in the head at Twickenham.

"It seems to be that when we come up here we have more issue with it [judiciary]," McCaw said. "Anything remotely borderline gets cited but perhaps borderline ones are not cited at home during the Tri-Nations.

" That's the way it feels."

The real danger is that life could now be made hard, or maybe that should be harder, for the All Blacks on this tour. The Home Unions still wield fearsome clout and the refereeing community especially will be on red alert for the remaining tests.

With emotions high, with accusations having not quite been made but injustices alluded to, the test this morning and the next two in Dublin and Cardiff will be unduly scrutinised.

Whatever referees say, however impartial they believe they are, they can't help but be influenced by the media debate, the comments made by players and coaches before tests and their own video analysis.

All of these factors swill around in the heads of the men in the middle. The chances of the All Blacks gaining the benefit of the doubt, as they did throughout the Tri-Nations, are gone. The chances are, and this will never be admitted, the IRB top brass would quite like the All Blacks to be clipped round the ear in some way for naming Mealamu in their line-up before the appeal.

That decision will have angered some who will have seen it as the All Blacks mocking the entire process.

The All Blacks won't care. For the last three tours to the north, they have sensed the animosity brewing towards them. They defended Mealamu all the way because they believed that while he had been reckless in the way he had tried to clear out Lewis Moody, he had not intentionally headbutted the England captain.

The appeal was not so much about getting their man off, it was about making sure his character was not besmirched. The All Blacks felt that if Mealamu said he didn't make contact with Moody's head, that should have been enough.

"It has been a tough week having something hanging over my head like this," said Mealamu after the appeal. "I have never played the game to hurt anyone and to finally get this [decision], the way I did things was reckless was a lot better than saying I intentionally tried to headbutt someone.

"I feel a lot better and I will take a lot more care next time."

He will now be available for the final test in Cardiff, one where Welsh coach Warren Gatland is almost certain to stir the locals into a frenzy about every perceived injustice committed by the All Blacks since 1905.