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'Out of character': All Blacks coaches on Pablo Matera's handshake snub of Dane Coles
By Sam Smith
The All Blacks coaches have weighed in on the post-game snub from Los Pumas No 8 Pablo Matera, who instead of shaking Dane Coles' hand gave him a shove in the shoulder.
Coles seemed a little taken aback by the push but both players moved on through the line to continue shaking hands, while Matera was seen jovial moments later catching up with his former Crusaders teammates.
When asked about it in the post-match press conference head coach Ian Foster joked that Coles is widely 'loved' and Matera isn't the first player to take exception with the All Blacks hooker.
“Didn’t shake Colesy’s hand? He wouldn’t be the first player," Foster said.
“Everyone loves Colesy.”
What appeared to set Matera off was a cleanout by Coles late in the game, with the pair exchanging words moments later. There was only a few minutes remaining after the on-field run in, clearly still in the Argentinian's mind after the whistle.
New All Blacks assistant Jason Ryan, who coached Matera this season at the Crusaders, said the incident was 'out of character' for him and that all was right later in the dressing rooms.
"I'm not sure what happened there, me and Joe got our one wrong in the coaches box too, I don't know if you've seen that one," Ryan said.
"But Pablo was in the shed after, it's pretty out of character from him to be fair.
"I'm sure they will move on. They're both competitive men."
Ryan had his own handshake snub, accidentally caught up in a three-way with new assistant Joe Schmidt that left the former Ireland head coach out cold.
The former Crusaders forward coach said he didn't see Schmidt which led to the John Key-like faux pas.
"That was a bit of a... I didn't realise Joe [Schmidt] was there," Ryan explained.
"He missed me twice in the coaches meeting this morning on purpose, but she's all good.
"It's all good with Joe, I just didn't see him on the side there, it was a bit of a John Key moment, wasn't it?"
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Latest Comments
It sounds like Andrew is trying to convince himself or has just lost all perspective. The team did look jaded for the last couple of games of the six nations but a few things were wrong there. Italy tackled their hearts out and made Ireland work hard for every try. Outsmarted by Scotland? Huh? Ireland got held up over the line about 4 times. Scotland did nothing on attack the whole game other than one breakaway near the end. A recharge and reset is needed which they hopefully will have had before the SA your.
Go to commentsIncluding SA and Argie teams was great for the quality of rugby, but middle of the night games and player travel/ jet lag make that unworkable. I think that SA in Europe and Argie building an American league with USA, Canada etc would be better long term. If Oz can't sustain Rebels then next cab off the rank should be a Japanese team. Keep regional comps to time zones, both club and test rugby. Then existing test windows for test tours plus RWC.
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