The All Blacks grabbed two emphatic wins over the Wallabies in last year's Bledisloe Cup series but global headlines were obsessed with the bugging of their hotel room. Photo / Photosport.nz
The All Blacks, not security expert Adrian Gard, seemed to be on trial this week. Jared Savage was in Sydney to listen to the evidence.
At times it seemed the All Blacks were on trial this week in Sydney.
Not the team's long-serving security consultant Adrian Gard, who is facing a sole charge of making a false statement which led to an unnecessary police investigation.
To cut out the legal jargon: police say the 51-year-old made up the entire story of how he found a listening device hidden inside a chair at the team's five-star hotel.
The discovery of the bug was made public by the Weekend Herald on the day of the first Bledisloe Cup test in August last year, then reported to police, leaving a "bitter taste" in the mouth of Australian rugby officials who believed the Wallabies were unfairly inferred as the culprits.
So one can imagine the Wallabies' glee when the six month police investigation ended with the finger being pointed to someone inside the All Blacks' camp.
Ironically, 12 months on, the bugging saga will dominate the build-up to the first Bledisloe test in Sydney next Saturday.
The hearing at the Downing Local Court is expected to end on Friday, with Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson indicating she is likely to deliver a verdict immediately.
Although a minor charge, the stakes are high for Gard (who has provided security for Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods and Oprah Winfrey) in an industry where reputation is everything.
And after two days of evidence in a bizarre case, there are many unanswered questions.
Why were the All Blacks so anxious the hotel be swept for bugs with specialist equipment?
Why did the All Blacks take five days to report the listening device to police?
And why on earth would the All Blacks' security man make it all up?
There was no suggestion of a wider conspiracy within the All Blacks, police prosecutor Sergeant Stephen Dayeian told the court.
The case against Gard was circumstantial, said Dayeian, and Magistrate Atkinson would be asked to draw inferences on his motive which would "become apparent as the hearing goes on".
The first witness was Darren Shand, the All Blacks manager.
Seven days before the Bledisloe Test on Saturday August 20, 2016, Shand rang Gard to organise a sweep of the team's training grounds, meeting rooms in the hotel, as well as Steve Hansen's personal suite.
Though Gard had previously conducted similar sweeps for the team, Shand wanted someone with specialist equipment and asked him to find a contractor.
"From my understanding of the risks our team faced...we needed to do it thoroughly and do the job properly," said Shand.
The following day, on the Sunday night, Gard contacted Charles Carter, who ran his own counter-espionage business.
Carter was asked if he could do a job at the North Sydney Oval the next morning, Monday August 15.
Armed with devices such as the "non-linear junction detector" and the "RF spectrum analyser", Carter did not realise the All Blacks were the client until he arrived at the ground.
Team management was concerned about their lineout calls being intercepted, so Carter swept the areas on each side of the pitch looking for microphones.
His equipment was "alarming" all the way around the field.
"We deduced it was the electronics in the watering system," said Carter
From there, he went to the Intercontinental Hotel in Double Bay, on Sydney's waterfront, where the All Blacks were staying.
He started checking the team meeting room, where strategy and tactics would be shared with players the next day.
Around 40 chairs were scanned with the "non linear junction detector", which picks up traces of silicon in the semi-conductor components found in any electronic device.
Any hidden listening devices do not need to be transmitting, or connected to power, to be found this way.
Alarms were set off in two "suspect" chairs, said Carter, who marked them with an ultraviolet pen invisible to the naked eye.
He ran other tests in the room, and over the chairs, but found nothing.
In this first sweep, Carter also used the "spectrum analyser" to create a "signal list" of all 239 radio frequencies in the room at the time.
This would later be seized on by police as a key piece of evidence against Gard.
Carter pointed out the two suspect chairs to Gard, but warned that furniture could often give false readings because of fibre or metal.
The only way to be certain, was to cut the chairs open.
Carter said he did not have a contract with the hotel - which owned the chairs - so it would be up to Gard to get permission.
They parted ways in the hotel foyer around 4.30pm, said Carter, with Gard taking the chairs up to his room by himself.
Around 5pm, Shand said Gard called him and said something like 'You need to come and see me."
"There was a sense of urgency in his voice, he needed to see me immediately," said Shand. "I went straight up to his room."
When he entered Gard's room, the All Blacks manager saw two or three conference room chairs.
"The chair that was closest to me I could see the foam of the chair, what looked like a battery and wires still in the chair, wire running along the top of the foam," said Shand.
"I don't recall exact words, my recollection is, 'what is that?' Basically both of us staring in shock...the realisation it was some sort of listening device."
He called Anna Edie, a senior staff member at the hotel, who in turn called the general manager, Paul Walters.
The pair joined Shand and Gard in the room.
"I assured them security arrangements are paramount and we were taking this seriously," said Walters.
"I believe I asked them would they like me to contact police ... Mr Shand requested I do not contact police."
This was because Shand did not want any media attention, according to Walters.
In his evidence, Shand said he "did not recall" any mention of the police being involved.
"I said it was important for hotel to take responsibility."
He left the room to tell other members of the management team, Steve Hansen, Ian Foster and Gilbert Enoka, before calling NZRU chief executive Steve Tew.
Tew was in Rio for the Olympics and was not due to arrive in Australia until Friday.
The next day, two private investigators, John Seward and Julian Claxton, met Shand, Gard and the hotel managers.
Seward said if a listening device was planted, it was potentially a criminal offence and should be reported to the police.
"[Shand] didn't want it reported to police. They wanted it handled in-house," Seward said of the Tuesday meeting.
At a second meeting on the Friday, Seward repeated his belief the matter should be reported to the police.
Shand replied the All Blacks needed to wait for a "manager" to arrive from Rio before they did anything, Seward said.
"I stressed this should have been reported to police...it was not decided to report to the police, I know that for a fact," said Seward.
Walters confirmed Shand said at the Friday meeting, the day before the test match, that he did not want the police involved.
Later that night, Walters spoke with Shand again.
After talking to Tew, who had arrived from Rio, Shand indicated the All Blacks were now thinking about telling the police.
But it wasn't until the next morning, just hours before kick-off, that Shand called back to say news of the bugging was about to break.
He now wanted Walters to call the police; about 15 minutes later the Herald broke the story online.
The All Blacks went on to win 42-8 that night; the largest loss suffered by the Wallabies on home soil.
But the global headlines were dominated by the "bugging" of the All Blacks.
The inference the Wallabies were involved incensed coach Michael Cheika, who let rip in an extraordinary press conference after another loss, 37-10, to the All Blacks at Eden Park.
"We had policemen in our offices asking us questions, our management questions," Cheika said last October.
"That's serious stuff to be accusing people of and it's not true."
But In February, after a six-month investigation, police charged someone with close ties to the All Blacks; 51-year-old "Gardie".
Steve Hansen immediately went to the defence of Gard, saying the All Blacks trusted him and the charge was bizarre.
On learning the news, Bill Pulver, chairman of the Australian Rugby Union, was quick to put out a statement declaring the Wallabies had been exonerated despite them never being accused.
And having a pop at the All Blacks.
"The aspect that still leaves a bitter taste out of this whole affair is that the discovery of the device was reported publicly on game day, when it is understood that the alleged discovery of the device occurred much earlier in the week leading up to the test match.
"Clearly, the media attention, which resulted from it, was a distraction that neither team needed on the morning of a very important test match."
And it will continue to be a distraction leading up to another very important test match.
There's no smoking gun, but in a circumstantial case, a 9V battery has emerged as an important piece of the puzzle.
The listening device, described as cheap and of poor quality, was not transmitting, according to the tests conducted by Charles Carter, on the day it was found.
This means battery powering the device was either drained, or disconnected - or, as the police alleged, the device was not in the chair.
An electronic expert for the police, Senior Sergeant Milad Elkazzi, said the battery was nearly fully charged.
Tests showed the battery had only been drained for between 1 and 2 hours.
So was the battery connected to the device?
It was, according to Julian Claxton, a counter-surveillance expert hired by the hotel with John Seward.
Gard disconnected the device after finding it in the chair, Claxton said Gard told him.
Under cross-examination by Gard's lawyer Tony Kimmins, Claxton rejected the suggestion that Gard in fact told Claxton the battery fell off when he pulled the device from the chair.
"I dispute that," said Claxton, who said he specifically asked Gard.
"That is a pertinent question [to the investigation], I was told when he found it, it was definitely connected."
The distinction is crucial for the defence theory. If the battery was disconnected inside the chair, even partially, it means the device could have been there for some time - not transmitting but with a full battery - intended for another of the hotel's important guests.
Whether Gard is acquitted or convicted next week, the saga could take the frosty relationship between the two great rugby rivals even lower.
As many as four rookies could force their way into Scott Robertson's All Blacks squad.