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Laporte attacks All Blacks again
SMH | Sunday, 19 August 2007
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4170186a10295.html
France coach Bernard Laporte has turned up the World Cup heat by reiterating that the All Blacks play "to the limit of the rules" and benefit from weak refereeing.
"They've made their choice, and that is to play to the limit of the rules and sometimes beyond," Laporte told La Provence newspaper yesterday.
"They have mastered the art of going to the edge of what's allowed."
Any claims of Laporte's being bitter over their double hammering in New Zealand this year were played down by the Frenchman.
"There's no doubt there was a gulf between both teams this summer," he said.
"The All Blacks were superior to us [42-11]and 61-10] but it becomes an issue if the referee doesn't whistle when they commit fouls."
Laporte is no stranger to controversy as far as New Zealand are concerned.
In June he was accused of threatening to end the career of referee Stuart Dickinson after the Australian had officiated the first Test in Wellington.
But Laporte, who will become sports minister in the French Government after the World Cup, denied he made threats.
"I was never threatening. Stuart Dickinson has confirmed this. I just said to him that you can't always be happy to say, 'Oh yes, it's a refereeing error'."
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