All Blacks spygate scandal 'cringeworthy', 'shockingly bad'

New South Wales police said yesterday that 51-year-old Adrian Gard (left) had been arrested on a "public mischief" charge. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The arrest of a security consultant employed by the All Blacks in the infamous "Spygate" case has been described by private investigator and director of Thompson and Toresen Daniel Toresen as "cringeworthy" and "shockingly bad".

New South Wales police said yesterday that 51-year-old Adrian Gard had been arrested on a "public mischief" charge, following the discovery of a listening device in the team's InterContinental Hotel in Sydney's Double Bay, before the All Blacks' 42-8 Bledisloe Cup victory against the Wallabies last August.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking, Toresen said that throughout his extensive career in the private investigating industry, this is the first time he had seen anything like this materialise.

"It's cringeworthy, it's not good," Toresen said.

"I've been in this industry for 30 years, and you hear rumours and stories about people planting bugs themselves to make themselves look great.

"But it's a bit of an old wives' tale, and I've never really heard of it come to fruition, but this is maybe one of those cases. It's just shockingly bad."

Toresen believed that the incident would be "ruinous" for the company that Gard works for, BGI Security.

"It's got to be ruinous, doesn't it. This is all about trust.

"Integrity means everything to me and my firm, and it's unbelievably bad for the industry. It's just crazy."

Australian Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver commended the police for their investigation, but revealed the scandal still "left a bitter taste".

"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 the alleged discovery of the device occurred much earlier in the week," Pulver stated.

"Clearly the media attention that resulted from it was a distraction that neither team needed on the morning of a very important test match.

"The ARU and the Wallabies were never accused of any wrongdoing, however it was still important that this matter reached a conclusion to provide complete reassurance to all fans that the organisation and the team had no part in any of this."

Hansen's All Blacks went on to whitewash the Wallabies three-nil in the Bledisloe Cup series. After the final test, at Eden Park in October, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika launched a broadside at the All Blacks and New Zealand Herald, who broke the story, with Cheika alleging the newspaper was working with Hansen's team.

Cheika said then: "[The All Blacks] caught me a bit offside with the accusation that we tried to bug them.

"They had that the whole week. That showed a lack of respect. I wouldn't be smart enough to get that sort of stuff organised."