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'Out of character': All Blacks coaches on Pablo Matera's handshake snub of Dane Coles
By Sam Smith
The All Blacks coaches have weighed in on the post-game snub from Los Pumas No 8 Pablo Matera, who instead of shaking Dane Coles’ hand gave him a shove in the shoulder.
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Coles seemed a little taken aback by the push but both players moved on through the line to continue shaking hands, while Matera was seen jovial moments later catching up with his former Crusaders teammates.
When asked about it in the post-match press conference head coach Ian Foster joked that Coles is widely ‘loved’ and Matera isn’t the first player to take exception with the All Blacks hooker.
“Didn’t shake Colesy’s hand? He wouldn’t be the first player,” Foster said.
“Everyone loves Colesy.”
What appeared to set Matera off was a cleanout by Coles late in the game, with the pair exchanging words moments later. There was only a few minutes remaining after the on-field run in, clearly still in the Argentinian’s mind after the whistle.
This fairly innocuous clean-out from Dane Coles seems to be where he first caught the ire of Pablo Matera, with the Argentinian offering a few words of advice in the follow-up. Doesn’t seem to be a whole lot in it… 🤷♂️ #NZLvARG #AllBlacks #LosPumas pic.twitter.com/xUhfMaJ90t
— Tom Vinicombe (@TomVinicombe) September 3, 2022
New All Blacks assistant Jason Ryan, who coached Matera this season at the Crusaders, said the incident was ‘out of character’ for him and that all was right later in the dressing rooms.
“I’m not sure what happened there, me and Joe got our one wrong in the coaches box too, I don’t know if you’ve seen that one,” Ryan said.
“But Pablo was in the shed after, it’s pretty out of character from him to be fair.
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“I’m sure they will move on. They’re both competitive men.”
Ryan had his own handshake snub, accidentally caught up in a three-way with new assistant Joe Schmidt that left the former Ireland head coach out cold.
The former Crusaders forward coach said he didn’t see Schmidt which led to the John Key-like faux pas.
“That was a bit of a… I didn’t realise Joe [Schmidt] was there,” Ryan explained.
“He missed me twice in the coaches meeting this morning on purpose, but she’s all good.
“It’s all good with Joe, I just didn’t see him on the side there, it was a bit of a John Key moment, wasn’t it?”
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By Aaron Smith’s brilliant logic, the pumas should have not tried to the win the game this week but try not to lose it like they did last week. Goes to show one cannot accomplish much in the world of sport when trying to win.
Coles is a week long case-of-the-runs in human form; Pablo was merely fending the excrement away.