AUSTRALIAN POLICE SAID they were examining a listening device found in the All Blacks’ Sydney hotel ahead of their clash against the Wallabies, as Australian rugby reportedly rejected as “ludicrous” the idea they had bugged the New Zealanders.
The device was planted inside a chair and found during a routine security sweep of an All Blacks’ meeting room in the lead-up to the opening Rugby Championship clash on Saturday night, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) said.
“The hotel immediately launched an investigation, we have informed the Australian Rugby Union, and jointly we have now decided to hand over the investigation to the Australian police,” NZR chief executive Steve Tew said.
“We are taking this issue very seriously, and given it will be a police matter, it would not be prudent to go into further details.”
New South Wales Police said they were investigating, but had only been made aware of the find on Saturday — five days after the device was found and just hours ahead of the Test between the trans-Tasman rivals.
Australia’s scrumhalfs, Will Genia, left, and Nick Phipps, train in Sydney on Friday. Source: Rick Rycroft
“Any delay in any investigation is always tough,” Rose Bay commander, superintendent Brad Hodder, told reporters. “That will be looked at in our investigation.”
Police could not say what range the device may have had or how long it had been in place, but Tew said there had been an All Blacks team meeting in that room earlier in the week.
“If the device was working properly, and we don’t know that for sure, then they would have overheard that,” he told reporters outside the team’s Double Bay hotel on Saturday.
Tew said he has spoken with Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver who was “just as shocked as I was”.
“We haven’t made any accusations of anybody so there’s no room for denials,” he said when asked if Australia had denied involvement in the incident.