Former All Black would rather pick up dog s*** than watch England play

A former All Black has said he’d rather have picked up dog excrement at his local park than have watched England’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against South Africa.

The Springboks edged past Steve Borthwick’s men in sodden conditions in the French capital, a game which was dominated by aerial brinkmanship, a high-stakes kick chase game and plenty of forward grunt.

Yet while it was low low-scoring affair,  the consensus on the ground was that it was a tense, edge-of-your-seat thriller which was hard to take your eyes off, right up until the final whistle was blown.

All Black defence coach Scott McLeod explains some of the biggest challenges his team will face against the Springboks

All Black defence coach Scott McLeod explains some of the biggest challenges his team will face against the Springboks

However, not everyone was happy.

Former New Zealand scrumhalf Steve Devine, speaking on SENZ radio in New Zealand, said he felt sorry for fans who paid ‘good money’ to watch England’s 1-point loss to the defending world champs.

“I hate England. Their whole game,” said the ten cap All Black. “I honestly would have rather gone down to my local dog park and picked up s***.

“That’s how exciting I found that. If that wasn’t the World Cup semi-final, that would have been the worst game of rugby ever played,” continued Devine.

Devine was asked how much interest there would have been in the semi-final in Paris if it hadn’t been a World Cup match and he said: “There wouldn’t have been any. I feel horribly disappointed that people paid good money for those seats.”

Devine’s hatred of England seems very real and a quick check of his Test career might point to an underlying cause.

In his ten Test career, Devine had just two losses, and they both came against – you guessed it – England.

He made his debut as part of an All Blacks end-of-year tour back in 2002 against England in Twickenham and lost to Clive Woodward’s side 31-28.

He got his chance for revenge when England toured New Zealand and Australia a year later in June 2003. Unfortunately for Devine, he lost that one too, with the All Blacks going down 15-13 in Wellington. England went on to win the Rugby World Cup, a tournament which also saw the end of his own  journey as an All Black.

It leaves the former Blues player as maybe the only New Zealand test player ever to have played more than one test against England and still have a 100 per cent losing record against them.