Rugby World Cup 2019: Aaron Smith ‘highly embarrassed’ by All Blacks’ exit

Aaron Smith says New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup exit to England left him “highly embarrassed” and insisted the All Blacks could not be accused of not caring.

Two-time defending champions New Zealand saw their unbeaten run at World Cups that stretched back to 2007 ended in convincing fashion by England.

Eddie Jones’ ran out 19-7 winners in the semi-finals to consign the All Blacks to the bronze-medal match.

Scrum-half Smith was adamant the reverse was not for a lack of heart, though, as he compared the New Zealand dressing room to a funeral.

“I’m truly gutted and highly embarrassed,” Smith said. “You’ve got family, friends texting you, but you know they’re pretty gutted.

“If New Zealand [the country] thinks that we’re not gutted, you’ve just got to go see that changing room. It was like a funeral.

Arigato, Yokohama. pic.twitter.com/CPAM8rQBbE

— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 26, 2019

“We are putting on brave faces so it’s going to be a long summer. It’s over and we trained our guts out. We trained hard for this and prepared well.

“But, in the end, sport happens and we got beat.”

New Zealand winger Sevu Reece paid tribute to England, who can look forward to next Saturday’s final.

“They were the better team in the end,” Reece said. “They came out really strong at the start and they managed to hold onto that for the whole 80 [minutes].

“We expected them to come out with the performance they did but credit to England for a great performance.”

KEO.co.za News wire is powered by opta