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'I'm hugely disappointed with myself' - Du'Plessis Kirifi forced into apology

Du'Plessis Kirifi. (Photo by Jeremy Ward/Photosport)

Wellington Lions and Hurricanes flanker Du’Plessis Kirifi has been forced to apologise after hosting a party during New Zealand’s level four lockdown.

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It was revealed Kirifi and his partner hosted a small gathering despite New Zealand being in Level 4 lockdown as a result of an outbreak of the Delta variant in the country.

Kirifi, who is the captain of the Wellington Lions and had been the face of the team’s pandemic lockdown messaging, has now been forced into an awkward mea culpa over the incident.

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The Wellington Rugby Football Union said they were disappointed with their skipper. No other players from the team attended the shindig.

A statement on the union’s website said: “Wellington Rugby Football Union have been made aware of a breach of Level 4 lockdown by Wellington Lions Captain, Du’Plessis Kirifi.

“We expect our players to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects the high standards of WRFU and the Wellington Lions, and as such, we’re disappointed with Kirifi’s unacceptable decision-making regarding the breach. We can confirm that no other Wellington Lions players were involved.”

“We’ve spoken to the player in question, and he has taken full responsibility for his conduct in this incident. He knows it was unacceptable and is disappointed with himself.”

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Kirifi said he was ‘hugely disappointed’ with himself following the get-together.

“I want to apologise to the Wellington community, family and friends, as well as WRFU and Hurricanes rugby for breaching lockdown. I take full responsibility for my actions here. I’m hugely disappointed with myself and this huge error of judgement. I know every day, thousands of people are working tirelessly to stop COVID-19, so for me to break my bubble was selfish and immature.” – wrote the 24-year-old in the joint statement.

“Further conversations will be had internally between Du’Plessis Kirifi and Wellington Lions management,” the statement concluded.

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.


I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.


We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.


I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.

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