[1] Cory Jane. Photo Reuters Cory Jane apologised to his teammates after being spotted drunk and smoking at a Takapuna bar just three days before the All Blacks' quarterfinal against Argentina.
Instead of being buoyant after helping the All Blacks to a 33-10 defeat of Argentina and a place in the semifinals, it was a very contrite Jane who fronted media last night. The wing was clearly uncomfortable as he spoke about what happened but it's likely it would have been nothing compared to what it would have been like fronting his teammates afterwards.
Captain Richie McCaw and the senior players would have taken a dim view of Jane's actions and it's understood McCaw even wanted Jane dropped for the match against Argentina after the wing was spotted inebriated and smoking with injured teammate Israel Dagg at a Takapuna bar on Thursday night.
"I think if we are realistic about putting everything we can into winning this thing, it's about making good decisions,'' McCaw said. "And I think we had an incident that wasn't a very good decision.
"We have dealt with that and the guys are pretty committed to doing what they can to win the thing. That's the way it has been all the way through and that's the way it will, I'm sure, continue.''
Jane didn't front up to his team on the matter before the match against Argentina because he didn't want it to be a distraction and admitted he tried to keep a low profile on the day of the game.
Jane at least made up for it with a strong performance on the right wing, although he was hobbling towards the end of the game. He has been troubled throughout the tournament by an Achilles injury.
"I knew I had to put in a good performance after making a poor decision the other night and it being thrown all over the paper this morning so I knew I had to go out there and play well,'' Jane said. "When you do something stupid and it comes out in the media on game day, it can affect the team and I'm just happy that the boys played well and managed to get the win.
"It was an awkward day. I was trying to hide [from the coaches]. I just knew that I had to play well so I wouldn't get in trouble after this, but I should so I'll see what happens.
"It was a stupid choice. I don't want to go into any details, but I put a lot of pressure on my teammates.''
- Michael Brown, additional reporting Patrick McKendry
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