The behavior of the first ever 82,000 crowd at
Twickenham will be another focus of Sunday's rugby union
international between England and New Zealand after All Blacks
centre Aaron Mauger said he was racially abused by fans there in the
same contest a year ago.
Although the Rugby Football Association rejected Mauger's
allegations, officials will be on alert in case there is any sign of
English fans racially abusing the All Blacks, many of whom have
Pacific island backgrounds.
``In terms of the crowd, I think there were a few racial remarks
made to a few of our boys last year,'' Mauger, who is part-Samoan,
told New Zealand media. ``And a few of the guys took exception to
it, which is fair enough because there is no place for that in
sport. It seemed to be the Island guys who got picked on.''
RFU chief executive Francis Baron said nothing was reported at
the time although he would ask the All Blacks management team too
look into Mauger's comments.
``No allegations of any racist abuse were made during or after
that game, and it is puzzling why they have now been made a year
later,'' Baron said.
``Rugby is an inclusive game for all, and the RFU abhors any form
of discrimination or abuse based on color, creed, sexual orientation
or disability.''
Sunday's game is the first since Twickenham was expanded with the
reconstruction of the south stand and the capacity has been
increased from 74,000 which means even more England fans in the
stadium.
``The England fans who come to Twickenham are a credit to the
ethos of rugby, and we have never had any allegations of racism
leveled against them,'' Baron said.
``It is disappointing that they have been unfairly accused like
this. I have asked the New Zealand management to investigate Aaron
Mauger's comments and to take the appropriate action.''
On the field, New Zealand has recalled the world's best flyhalf,
Dan Carter, after Nick Evans, who was due to start, failed a fitness
test on his injured hamstring Friday.
England, which has lost its last five games and appears in
disarray a year before it defends the World Cup, will debuts three
backs _ winger Paul Sackey, centre Anthony Allen and scrumhalf Shaun
Perry.