ARU chief executive Bill Pulver has described the listening device found in an All Blacks team hotel as an "unnecessary distraction" and says he has never heard of a rugby team ever adopting such a concept.
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Police are continuing their investigations into who planted a sophisticated listening device in a team meeting room used by the All Blacks at the InterContinental Hotel in Double Bay.
While it is understood police were considering releasing photos of the device to the public, they will not do so until it has been thoroughly examined as authorities try to work out where the piece of equipment was purchased.
"Detectives from Rose Bay are continuing to follow up a number of lines of enquiry," a NSW Police spokesperson said. "The device continues to be forensically examined and police are not in a position to comment on the make-up of the device."
Pulver has revealed he was shown a picture of the device on Friday by New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew at an annual board dinner.
He was "shocked" when he saw the photo but was under the impression the story would not get out to the public, which turned out not to be the case after it was reported in the media on Saturday, the day of the Bledisloe Cup opener between the Wallabies and All Blacks in Sydney.
"Literally at about 10 o'clock that night Steve Tew showed me a photograph of this funny little device that looked like two batteries with a little wire, pretty innocuous," Pulver said. "He said that at this point they were confident that it wasn't going to be an issue for public exposure but then of course he rang me – and in fairness to Steve most apologetically – that it had been released to the public. He was a bit embarrassed by that and we both agreed on the Friday night that it should be handed over to the police."
Pulver went on the record on Saturday to express his displeasure the story went out on game day and reiterated that point on Wednesday, saying it was a "sideshow".
He said sweeping rooms was a foreign concept to him and believed there was no need for the Wallabies to spend time and money getting their rooms checked when they travelled to Wellington for the second Bledisloe fixture.
"I've never heard of any sports team sweeping rooms for listening devices so I was surprised by that revelation as well," Pulver said. "I'm not going to describe the All Blacks as paranoid, it's up to them to run their team the way they want to but I can tell you we don't sweep rooms. To think of listening devices in the world of rugby is not something we would expect and it's not something I've ever heard of.
"I don't think there was anything sinister about it. It was probably shock ... a bit of a delayed reaction to hand it over to the police. I think in retrospect they would hand it over to the police a lot earlier than they did. If anyone has actually planted it there I sincerely hope they find them."
