Rugby: Jerome Kaino - 'It's never my intention to hurt someone outside laws'

Jerome Kaino has come under a barrage of questions from the media today about his charge at Conor Murray which Lions coach Warren Gatland has described as dangerous but which the All Blacks loose forward has called a timing issue.

Kaino attempted to disrupt a Murray kick early in last Saturday's test at Eden Park, but missed and rolled into the halfback's planted foot. Gatland a day later described the act as concerning and told the media on arrival in Wellington that he would raise it with the match officials ahead of Wellington's second test, but Kaino has rejected accusations that he is a dirty player.

A patient Kaino appeared to welcome the chance to state his case in front of the media today, adding some humour to the mix despite the potential for Gatland's comments to besmirch his reputation.

To the first of many questions, he said: "It's never our intent to injure someone outside the laws. We play hard and we play fair. But that incident was a one-off and it was never our intention to single anyone out."

Asked if it was a timing issue, he said: "More timing. He [Murray] is very quick at getting the ball to foot. Maybe there was a bit of a timing [issue] there. But what's been said about malice and intention to hurt anyone, that's never the case."

To a question about whether he felt he was lucky not to have been cited, the big loose forward said: "I don't know. It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone and play outside the rules. I wasn't cited, so I don't' think I should have been."

Asked whether he had seen it, Kaino responded: "I've seen it reviewing the game and it's popped up on my twitter feed about a million times. It's hard to avoid it.

"I guess people have their opinions on it - all I can say is that it wasn't my intention to target his planted foot.

"It's never nice when you have things done to you outside the laws. The way we do things is within the spirit of the game."

Asked whether the All Blacks were told to target Murray, he said: "We weren't told to do anything. We know their strengths and we see ways where we can [pressure] them - not only him, they have so many strengths within their team... but it's all within the rules and laws."

Kaino has always been regarded as a player who plays extremely hard but fairly, and there was a sense of deflection in Gatland's comments last Sunday night, a hint too of the Lions' 2005 campaign to New Zealand when Sir Clive Woodward appeared to use the now notorious Brian O'Driscoll cleanout to deflect attention from his team's poor performance, and in particular the visitors' shambolic lineout.

Kaino said he expected a backlash from a Lions team determined to get on even terms at Westpac Stadium, but the questions again came around to his actions in the 10th minute at Eden Park.

"I look at that and see that as an area where I can improve," he said. "What's in question here is my intent and what kind of player I was and all I can say is that I have never gone into a game wanting to target someone and intentionally hurt them, I just want to clear that up.

"I didn't go into tackle him. I rolled into his leg. What I was trying to do... his swinging foot, if you can disrupt that, it's like an ankle tap. My timing was off and I rolled into his planted foot and that's what I believe happened, if that's clear enough."

Asked if he would do it again this Saturday, Kaino's reply brought laughter: "Obviously not because it will probably go from my twitter feed to my Instagram feed," he said.