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All Blacks determined to connect with Japanese fans at World Cup - 'We need to show a bit of love back'

September 22, 2019

The All Blacks drew plenty of praise for bowing respectfully to the Yokohama crowd after last night's win.

The All Blacks have continued to show their respect for Japanese culture with a heartfelt gesture to the Yokohama crowd after their Rugby World Cup win against the Springboks last night.

The All Blacks were praised by rugby fans for bowing to the 69,000-strong crowd that had turned out to watch the 23-13 win but captain Kieran Read said it wasn't just for them.

"It's really important for us to connect as much as we can with the Japanese people," Read said in the post-match press conference.

"We know that they love us as All Blacks, but we need to show a bit of love back to them.

"Their support's been fantastic so far and we saw that tonight – there's plenty of fans with the black jerseys which is fantastic.

"We want to enjoy this tournament, get out and see as many people as we can, and hopefully win some more fans."

The act comes after the All Blacks opted to follow the guidelines around tattoos in Japan despite the rules being loosened in some regions for the World Cup.

The halfback was asked about how the tattooed players in the squad are adapting to Japanese culture regarding ink.

Inked halfback Aaron Smith said earlier this week the team manager is briefing them regularly about protocols.

"We’re in Japan, we gotta embrace their way their culture and us people with tattoos we're happy to cover up," Smith said.

“We just gotta respect that and adapt. As All Blacks we are grateful to be here.

"We don’t want to act like anything bigger than we are.”

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