All Black Aaron Smith banned for entering public toilet with a woman

  New Zealand scrum-half Aaron Smith has been suspended after breaching the All Blacks’ code of conduct.

Smith will miss New Zealand’s Rugby Championship game with South Africa after being handed a one-match following an incident with a woman inside a public toilet.

Smith was spotted entering a toilet cubicle with a woman at Christchurch Airport minutes before the team were set to travel to Durban for Saturday’s game.

According to an eye witness report published on New Zealand website, Stuff, Smith followed a woman in a her twenties into a vacant toilet before emerging ten minutes later.

All Black head coach Steve Smith has admitted he is bitterly disappointed with the 27-year-old’s behaviour.

“He feels he has let the team, his family and his partner down”, said New Zealand coach, Steve Hansen.

“He has asked to go home to deal with the personal matters that have come with this incident and we are happy to support him with that,” added Hansen.

Smith has since apologised for the incident, admitting his behaviour was ‘unacceptable’.

“I’ve made a huge mistake, a huge error in judgement. I’d firstly like to say a huge sorry to my partner Teagan, her family, my family,” Smith said at a press conference in South Africa.

“My behaviour was unacceptable and if you could respect me and my partner in this situation. I’m just trying to get home to deal with this. Thank you,” Smith added.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key condemned the Highlanders scrum-half for ‘embarrassing himself’.

“I suspect he’ll be sitting back, reflecting on the fact he’s let himself down, he’s let the team down, he’s an integral part of the All Blacks so he won’t want to be sitting on the sidelines, and frankly, he’s embarrassed himself a bit,” said Key.

“They [the All Blacks] do a lot to try and prove to young New Zealanders that they’re the sort of people to look up to - that’s why I think Aaron will feel pretty disappointed in himself.

The New Zealand Herald printed an account of the incident from a man who claimed to have been waiting outside the toilet in question.

“The pair were in the bathroom for 5-10 minutes and from the noises coming out of the bathroom there was absolutely no question what the couple were doing in there,” the man wrote in a letter to the newspaper.

“Mr Smith then came out of the room on his own, straightening up his white checked shirt and black dress pants.

“About a minute later the young lady comes out of the same toilet cubicle looking equally suspicious. I myself did not have a problem with this but my wife is protesting that this is disgusting for a public figure to do.”

This is not the first airport-related scandal to have hit the All Blacks in recent years.

In 2014 fly-half Aaron Cruden was given a two-match ban after missing the team’s flight to Argentina following an all-night drinking session.

Aaron Smith was dropped to the bench for New Zealand’s game with South Africa last year after breaking a team curfew.

Source: The Telegraph