O'Sullivan cries foul over video footage

Unpleasant tour ends on bitter note

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan claims that he and match citing commissioner Peter Brown were denied access to television footage that could have shed light on the injury that befell Shane Horgan during the tourists' 27-17 defeat to New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday.

Horgan suffered cuts above his left eye and bruising to his jaw, and an Ireland team spokesman said that there were concerns over the actions of an unnamed All Black.

O'Sullivan is adamant that the Irish were refused access to the footage in retaliation for barring the host broadcaster, Sky, from the Ireland changing room prior to the game; Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll also declined a request for a live post-Test interview.

"This is a very unacceptable situation – it seems we've been punished because we refused to let a camera into our changing room, which is against all our principles," said O'Sullivan.

"They're entertainment issues and I see where they're coming from but this is a citing issue and a player got injured.

"The citing commissioner has attempted to get the video footage and he's been refused. We're in a very unusual situation, I've never seen this before."

Although the release of the extra footage is not obligatory under Test match regulations, New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) chief executive Chris Moller said a judiciary tape "which contains all the angles the citing commissioner wished to look at" was given to Brown and a copy was given to the Irish team's physiotherapist.

"It is certainly unrelated to the issue of the judicial tape," Moller said of Sky's reluctance to hand over its footage.

"They're quite separate issues and to bring those together, frankly, would seem an effort to fudge what really happened.

"What we were told was that the NZRU had not provided the tape, which is incorrect.

"We're entirely satisfied that appropriate processes were followed."

Ireland's tour of New Zealand was marred by a number of ugly off-the-field incidents and AB forward coach Steve Hansen added the final unsavoury twist by accused O'Driscoll of feigning injury during the second Test.

O'Driscoll went down clutching his throat after being felled by a high tackle from Troy Flavell.

"It was a dive – it should have been in the [FIFA] World Cup," said Hansen.