From Stuff
There is no excuse for being that drunk that you hit someone, let alone cry when being hit with a handbag.... Still it would have been funny to see Tana giving Masoe what he deserved....
29 May 2006
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Hurricanes player Chris Masoe allegedly punched a patron in the face at a Christchurch bar yesterday morning and was promptly clouted on the head with a woman's handbag by teammate Tana Umaga.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]A Christchurch man, 24, who did not wish to be identified, said he was in the Jolly Poacher pub about 7am yesterday when he got into an altercation with Masoe, who had been drinking and playing pool in the bar with Umaga and at least one other Hurricanes player. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]He said Masoe, who was "off his chops", tripped over his feet while he was sitting at the bar. The next thing he knew, Masoe turned and punched him in the jaw. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"He just hit me in the side of the jaw. I was real shocked. I thought `what the hell'. It just came out of nowhere," the man said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"Everyone sort of stood up and got involved, as they do ... then Umaga hit him a couple of times with the handbag, as if to say `you idiot'. Masoe started crying. It was crazy, I don't really know what his deal was." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The man said he had not decided about pressing charges but was unlikely to. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"You can't go round doing that sort of thing but I don't want to get into that (pressing charges)," he said, adding that there had been no apologies from Masoe or his team. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The 22-year-old woman whose handbag Umaga grabbed said she could not believe it when she saw the former All Black captain clobbering his teammate with her little black Roxy bag. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"I mean a handbag, of all things. How hilarious ... he hit him pretty hard. We heard it across the bar. He cracked him up the side of the head twice," she said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"The Chris guy got quite upset and started crying. They got them out the back door of the bar." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]She did not realise the screen on her new cellphone had been damaged until after the rugby players were asked to leave the bar. She said Hurricanes management promised to replace it after she contacted them later in the day. "They were very apologetic." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Masoe was yesterday named in the All Black squad to take on Argentina next month but All Black manager Darren Shand could not comment whether the incident could jeopardise Masoe's immediate international future. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We need to investigate the incident and then determine what happens from there," he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Shand said it was irrelevant whether the incident happened in the Hurricanes environment or as part of the All Blacks. "He is an employee of the New Zealand Rugby Union. They have come to the table as an individual." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Shand said the union made a conscious effort to help its players to manage themselves in "these high-risk" social situations. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"When that doesn't happen there are a whole range of penalties that we can use that are in the collective agreement." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Shand said the NZRU had already been talking to the Hurricanes management and would sit down today to collect all the available information before it would take any action. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Another man, who witnessed the incident, said that when another patron tried to intervene, Umaga stepped in. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"He picked up a young woman's handbag and hit Masoe over the head with it a couple times." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The Hurricanes players "left without too much trouble" when a woman bouncer intervened, he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Hurricanes team manager Garry Carnachan confirmed management was looking into the incident and a statement would be issued. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We are investigating and seeking out the details and facts as we understand them," he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]He wouldn't say whether he had yet spoken to Umaga or Masoe. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Rob Brady, Umaga's manager, said neither he nor Umaga would be making any further comment (beyond Carnachan's statement) until they had had an opportunity to debrief Hurricanes' management. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]When The Press approached the Jolly Poacher bar manager later in the morning, he said he was not aware of the incident. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"They (Masoe and Umaga) were in here but I didn't see anything," he said. [/FONT]
There is no excuse for being that drunk that you hit someone, let alone cry when being hit with a handbag.... Still it would have been funny to see Tana giving Masoe what he deserved....
