Sport

All Blacks No.10 not impressed with rowdy Ellis Park crowd

Staff Reporter|Published

New Zealand flyhalf Damian McKenzie in action with South Africa's Damian de Allende and Ben-Jason Dixon. Picture: REUTERS, Siphiwe Sibeko

ALL Black flyhalf Damian McKenzie reckons the noise at Ellis Park on Saturday night was “out of control” and he is annoyed that the haka was “disrespected”.

“It is the first time I have played here in Johannesburg,” McKenzie told the media after his team had lost 31-27.

“I was told it would be pretty loud. You can understand the roars of the crowd, but the music is a little … yeah,” the flyhalf broke off not wanting to give a public view of the ear-shattering music played by the stadium DJ.

“I probably don’t agree with it too much.”

McKenzie said the Emirates Airline flyover had drowned out the team’s performance of the haka and the crowd singing “Ole, Ole, Ole” was not in good taste.

“The haka is an opportunity for us to connect with our people back home and our ancestors,” he said.

“We knew the noise was going to be there, but it is out of my control.”

The All Blacks had a strong start to the game and seemed to have the game won at 27-17 at the three-quarter mark but the Boks came storming back to snatch the spoils.

“Late in the (second) half we put ourselves under pressure with our lack of discipline,” he said, perhaps alluding to prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi’s yellow card.

The Kiwis could not score a point in the last quarter after having scored four tries until that point and looked dangerous out wide all evening.

A late-game fade-out has become a trend for the All Blacks.

“We need to get better at those 50-50 ones that you want to have a crack, but shouldn’t,” he said. “It’s about pushing the boundaries too far.

“Against this South African team, they have great kickers that put the ball in the corner and their set pieces were good.

“For the majority of the game we were in control and then we just took our foot off the pedal a bit,” the No.10 said.

“We know what is on the line next weekend in Cape Town.”

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