Bus driver shaken

Press, 17 July 1980, Page 1

Bus driver shaken

The bus driver was so anxious to get his vehicle out of the ground confines that he struck a fence post three times while trying a relatively simple backing manoeuvre. : .The Canterbury prop, John Ashworth added a light-hearted touch in a - tense moment when he observed that “Wales is not such a bad place to tour after a game like that.*; The return bus-ljgurney took 23 minutes, during which the Fijian .1 Rugby Union’s,/ liaison; officer with the side and a •former All Black, Mr Arthur Jennings,. .- publicly, apologised ..to?;' : the? v ;NieWv Zealanders for the crowd’s’; behaviour. ' /

Mr Jennings .said most ■of the spectators .. had •- invaded. the pitch because they were inquisitive, but some had gone on the field with, malicious intentions. - •

“I suggest that you do nof.leave the hotel tonight just in case any members of the public decide to get violent.

“The Fijian union will organise extra police • protection around the hotel tonight,” Mr Jennings told.

.the shaken, All Black' party. The after-match function was held at the All Blacks’ Nandi hotel. Gary Knight last evening told a hastily arranged press conference his version . of how the brawl : erupted.. ’ : .b ' .... i.’?■;!■ •" Earlier.'in the match his left ear had been bitten by an opposition forward — and he had the' teeth marks to prove it, he said; The match almost fin-„ ished, Knight said he had-' retaliated when struck by ,an opposition forward. Graeme Higginson came /'to his aid and the ensuing fight between the 'five ,• players' was the catalyst ‘ : crowd; to-', invade the pitch. ■ " Knight said that when the'-'crowd invaded the pitch - many '/spectators were" trying to help him get off the ground, but he and Higginson agreed that others were more . intent ■ on striking them from behind. . / ■ ‘ • .. The' All Black captain (Dave Loveridge) said that one or. two incidents earlier in the match had led to tjhe crowd’s invading the pitch. _ Mr Harper described the

scene as, one of. .“mass hysteria.”' “In my opinion, two or three people ran on to the field • once the fight had started, and away it went from there,” he said. “It worried me to see the referee so badly shaken and immediately after- the :<match I went to see- if he was all -right. -Fortunately, ■ he was.' .

“Apart from the referee I was also very concerned for the safety of my players,” Mr Harper said. “The ground seemed to me to be covered in : no time at all with ;spectators.”

He said he thought the police - handled the situaf tio’n- very well and it was largely’ through their efforts that none of the, players ■''were injured. Mr Harper Said the penalty count going against the Nadroga side had obviously had a lot to do with the invasion of the pitch. 'W; ■■ “This was i the fourteenth match bn the tour out of New Zealand and the side has proved in the last six weeks that it does not indulge in violence,” he said.