ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Sport
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All Blacks flanker Du’Plessis Kirifi has been named as the prime suspect behind the bizarre referee communications blackout that delayed the All Blacks’ fourth Test against South Africa for almost ten minutes.
The loose forward was initially left out of the 44-man All Blacks squad selected for the seven-week South African tour, despite many believing he had done enough to earn selection by leading the Hurricanes to a Super Rugby title a couple of months ago.
Kirifi was subsequently left with plenty of free time while the rest of the squad travelled around South Africa and eventually ended up in Baltimore.
Investigators now believe that free time may have been put towards mischief-making.
Referee Karl Dickson lost contact with the TMO during the first half, forcing the match into an extraordinary period where fans couldn’t hear the referee or his whistle and music played around the stadium for close to 10 minutes while they attempted to fix the issue, frustrating fans and viewers around the world who had no idea why there was no play.
World Rugby who are leading the investigation claim Kirifi was seen “acting suspiciously” around a communications switchboard in the stadium in Baltimore.
“I’ve got nothing against the All Blacks,” Kirifi explained. “I just think they should be very careful about who they leave at home for seven weeks,” Kirifi explained, while discarding an array of cables into a nearby rubbish bin.
“I only knew the comms were down because everyone was talking about the comms being down, not because I knew they were going to be down or how the incident occurred,” he concluded.
South Africa eventually won the Test 43-28 and the series 3-1, meaning Kirifi’s alleged communications sabotage ultimately failed to prevent the Springboks from winning.
He remains a person of interest.
More to come.
